Nothing Special
by Sonic Lightspeed
Summary: New characters always have a special power, right? Well, I'll introduce Nintex to you, and see if you can guess what he's best at...
1. The Howling

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik and related characters are copyrighted by Sega. Sally and the Freedom Fighters are copyrighted by Archie and Sega. Doctor Shepherd is a minor character copyrighted by NetRaptor, used without permission. Finally, Nintex is copyright to Sonic Lightspeed, not to be used without permission.

* * *

In the darkness that covered Robotropolis, the paths seemed endless. Polluted mist hung along the dirty ground, littered with nuts and bolts and bordered by fields of robot parts. Nintex clawed his way along the dirt at ground level, each motion agony, as his broken leg refused to support him. He couldn't stand, and every time the limb caught on something, the pain flared up again. And so he worked his slow way forward, reaching out for the next handhold. He would drag his way forward, and wince as his leg screamed at him to stop. Then Nintex would ignore the signal, gather his strength and throw his other arm forward. 

Three hours passed, and the city became a little smaller. Nintex, for the first time in a long while, reached a junction, and halted to consider which way to go. It was a set of crossroads. Every path was identical but for the main city behind him. Robotnik was after him, and Nintex had no idea why he had gone so unnoticed. Since his escape twelve hours ago, he had only seen three groups of active robots, and avoided them by hiding low in the mist.

Breathing hard, Nintex was not really thinking clearly, but decided to move forward. The idea of fooling Robotnik by moving sideways seemed sound at first, but the quicker he was out of this city, the better. He moved his head to look both ways –

And then quickly recoiled! Robots! Five standard SWATbots were heading this way from the left-hand path, and Nintex lifted his vulpine ears and listened to the clanking of metal on itself.

And then their cry: "Intruder! Apprehend!"

Nintex's breathing rate tripled right there, and he looked around in terror for the nearest hiding-place. But if they had seen him, they knew how low he was, and mist alone would be no good.

There was simply nowhere to go, and Nintex couldn't run. In a last-ditch effort, he pulled himself to the borders built of robots, and then dug his way into them. They cascaded on top of him; one landed on his leg, and he screamed into the air. But then he found he was quite firmly encased, and he could just see through the gaps in the metal. The five SWATbots came running round the corner, to gaze around for any sign of activity.

They stopped to stand there, looking around. Nintex listened to his own breathing and watched them search.

And then his hand touched something warm.

The clank attracted the robot's attention. But by the time they had turned their heads, the teleporter unit had grown a dull blue. Then there was a flash of light.

The SWATbots watched as the empty pile of robots collapsed onto itself.

* * *

Sonic stared in shock as the teleporter shut off, it's warm blue light fading into the central circle that a grey Mobian fox was now clinging to. Sally knew the plan, and her timing was perfect; the teleporter had fired the minute it was supposed to. But it wasn't Sally who had activated it, and it startled everyone circled around the target co-ordinates, right in the centre of the huts in Knothole. 

"How _dare_ you!" Sonic yelled, before he even realised he had opened his mouth.

Nintex was shaking uncontrollably, and he hadn't even heard. All he could see was the trees and sky above him. His leg was hurting so much that he couldn't tell whether he was screaming or not. All he could think about was not to let go of the teleporter; what happened if you fell away half-way through the process? He had no idea that he had already reached his destination. It only occurred to him when the teleporter was gently pulled away from him, and a collie's arms wrapped themselves around him and lifted him off the ground.

Nintex had not been screaming, but he yelled in pain when that someone took him up. In an instant, though, the man seemed to understand, and the pain was relieved again, or as much as could be expected.

Sonic and the others stared as Doctor Shepherd walked away, the fox in arms. He would not have acted any different if Sally were lying there, Sonic noticed.

Suddenly remembering, he grabbed the teleporter from where the doctor had put it down. "I'm going back, I need to check she's okay," he said quickly, and then he had inverted the co-ordinates, set it down on the ground, stepped on it, and vanished with it.

He emerged with the five SWATbots in his face.

His flinch was luckily timed, for all five of them fired at the spot where he had been. He snatched the teleporter from the ground and nearly tripped over the pile of robots that had fallen onto Nintex, regaining his balance just in time to avoid a second set of shots from the SWATbots. Then he was off and running towards Robotropolis.

* * *

Sally pushed the button for the fifth and final time. Somewhere beyond her notice, a spybot would pick out Sonic in the distance, clear and long enough that Robotnik's attention would move to that area. She had finished downloading the information about Robotnik's activities into Nicole and furthermore bringing that information terminal to a grinding halt. Now it was time to find the teleporter and get out. 

She was late, and she always hated that. Not that it could be helped, but she always hated missing a deadline. This one had been and gone, but still the mission had gone as planned and she had passed in pretty much undetected. Now she made her way through the dark, vile buildings, wondering which way was out.

She reached down to her leg, where Nicole was strapped, when in the distance, she heard a scream.

Instantly she was panicked, but then remembered that it couldn't be Sonic since he was at home, waiting for her. Nevertheless, it made her falter as she listened to the sound of horror and pain.

Then it got worse. Someone _replied_.

From somewhere in a building nearby, Sally could hear, quite clearly, another cry, loud and clear through the polluted air. She winced as it was joined by others, four or five howling screams from somewhere within the dismal city. All answering the other, from the border zones.

Their note droned on and on, and Sally listened to them, petrified. What was going on?

She had to find out. Keeping her back to the wall of the nearest building, she edged towards the sound…

* * *

Sonic had heard them too. Only when he had got away from the SWATbots had he noticed the howling. It fit perfectly with the city's dreariness, but even tactless Sonic felt himself shivering. Someone screaming like that must really hurt. Pain so hard it stopped everything else… Sonic found himself on the same level as the Mobian fox – whoever he was – for the first time. 

With his speed he was quickly within the city, and the cries were louder here. He listened carefully and decided they were near the refinery area. But then he remembered Sally, and made for where she was designed to end up before heading for the teleporter.

That meant he would have to go towards… the refinery area.

* * *

Sally had run out of corners to fear around. The building was right ahead of her, and the sounds were coming from inside. 

There was no direct way in – Robotnik would never be that silly – but Sally grabbed a large metal bar and brought it crashing down on the grille over the air duct. With a few hard hits she broke it free, and threw the bar to the side.

It was musty inside, and a little dirty. She had to crawl through, for it was too thin for her otherwise. It wasn't designed for her either; the bends were tight and difficult to navigate around, and she couldn't see a thing, leaving her with an intense claustrophobia.

Finally she made it to the other end, noting with relief that there was no grille on this side. The voices sounded different here; they echoed less, and for the first time she made out the slight digital tone to the screaming. Suddenly she stiffened, realising that she could be heading right into a trap. But the way was clear as far as she could see.

The corridors were unlit, but there were windows, and she was able to make out the shape of the corridors ahead. She considered turning back, but the howling made that decision for her.

The next turn took her past a chamber full of oil, devoid of any machinery, and into a set of prison cells, where she stopped and stared at the occupants…

* * *

Sally climbed out of the duct and landed ungracefully on her hands and feet, only to look up and scream at the unexpected sight of Sonic right in front of her. 

"Sal!" Sonic immediately yelled, lifting her up. To each other's surprise they found themselves in an embrace, and slowly pulled themselves apart. "You okay? We all panicked back home."

"Ugh," Sally replied, releasing Sonic and trying to look at least a little dignified but too shaken to succeed. "I'm not that late, am I?"

"It's not that," Sonic replied, showing her the teleporter under his arm. "Our escape plan was kind of wrecked for you. Some guy came through instead, shaking like mad, don't even know his name yet 'cause I left to pick you up."

"So you expected him and got me," Sally said.

Sonic looked at her. "No, it's the other way around. You're confused. What's the racket all about?" He pointed to the building.

"Robots," Sally said. "I've never seen anything like it. Five roboticized people, all screaming. Answering someone else out there." She pointed.

"There was another scream?"

"Yeah, it came from that way…" Sally pointed, then realised where she was pointing. "Towards the teleporter. So that might have been your guy. Anyway, the five were shaking the bars of the cells like mad, screaming, thrashing about… I couldn't do anything for them, so I stayed away."

Sonic stared. "Man, no wonder it sounds so awful. C'mon, let's get out of this creephouse."

"No kidding," Sally replied, as Sonic set the teleporter down and activated it.


	2. Nintex Awakens

He lay on the bed inside the medical hut, awakening. His eyes stayed closed, but Doctor Shepherd noticed something different about the way Nintex was breathing. After a moment he realised it was because he was talking himself into wakefulness, muttering:

"And... crying... distance... dark place... what... they listened to... but nothing... without... defence... somehow... thrashing... darkness..."

His eyes opened and he looked right up at Doctor Shepherd.

"Oh, hello," he said. "Where am I?"

The collie sat down on a wooden chair next to him. "Hi, I'm Doctor Shepherd. My, my, a broken leg. You're in Knothole, and I need to ask you a few simple questions, nothing serious."

Nintex nodded and the doctor picked up a clipboard and pencil.

"Name?"

"Nintex, N-I-N-T-E-X. Hanyu, H-A-N-Y-U."

"Age?"

"Sixteen next June."

"Fifteen, then. Species? In full, please."

Nintex hung his head and remained silent for a few seconds, before saying, "Kitsune."

Doctor Shepherd eyed him at this, his glance passing down to Nintex's tail. "You're quite mistaken," he said icily. "And please don't dump religious garbage on me or anyone else. Now, once more: Species?"

"Fox, grey."

"Much better," he said, his smile returning as he wrote that down in the Species column.

"But you must have already worked that out, doctor."

"Indeed, but it is polite to ask. Any particular allergies?"

* * *

When the doctor had finished asking Nintex questions, he left him with a glass of water and went over to the community hut, where Sally was talking to the others. She paused as he looked in from around the door.

"Excuse me," he said. "The fox, Nintex, he's awake. He won't be able to move for a good while, but you can talk to him and ask him any pertinent questions."

"Excellent," Sally said.

Beside her, Sonic cracked his knuckles in something like eager irritation. "Finally, now he can explain what he was doing there."

There was a moment's pause.

"Um," Sally finally said, lifting her head to the others around the room. "Let's go and meet our new arrival."

"Oh, not all of you," Doctor Shepherd said. "Sonic, Sally, okay." He scanned the room for anyone else important and his eyes found someone. "Tails, you too."

He left, leaving the fox looking mildly confused. "I didn't do something wrong, did I?" he asked.

"No," Sonic said. "C'mon." The three followed Doctor Shepherd over the expanse of Knothole to the medical hut, and one by one they filed through the door. There were not enough seats, so Sonic remained standing while the other three sat down. Nintex watched them with something between boredom and confusion.

"Hi," he said. "Did I do something celebrity-worthy while I was unconscious? Four is a crowd... or is it three...?" He paused to mull it over with himself, then realised how rude he was being. "...um, sorry... I'm Nintex Hanyu, hello..." He waved from his sideways position on the bed.

"Hi," said Sally. "This is Sonic, that's Tails, and I'm Sally. Welcome to Knothole."

"Thanks."

"We'd like to know exactly how you came to Robotropolis," Sally continued, and Sonic nodded vigorously. "You see, I intended to return here through a teleporter hidden there a few days back, on a previous mission. Unfortunately, when it did activate, it was for you and not me. Your unlucky timing might have had... disastrous consequences, if Sonic had not had the sense to come back for me."

Nintex looked depressed at Sally's explanation. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I was hiding from the SWATbots under the junk, and it all just fell on me. Pure luck that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Sonic jumped in. "I just don't buy it. So you're saying, the exact moment that Sally was scheduled to return, you were there, she was late, and you just happened to find the teleporter by accident?"

"Sonic!" Tails said. "You're being rude."

"Little bro, things like that don't just happen. He could be a spy, an operative, and we just don't know. This guy is a stranger and it just doesn't make any sense." He looked down at Nintex.

"I'm just another person," Nintex said. There was a long pause.

"There was something else," Sally said, breaking the silence. "When you were leaving the city, do you remember screaming?"

"Yeah," Nintex said. "One of the robots crashed right down on my leg. It was hurting before then, but at that point it was just too much."

"Well," Sally said, "what do you think would have happened if anyone in the city had heard you?"

Nintex thought about it for a few seconds. Then, his thoughtful expression filled itself with fear, and he took a shuddering breath before asking, "What happened?"

"Five others screamed back," Sally said. "I saw them. They looked insane. They were..." She ground to a halt.

Nintex watched her. "Five. Those five are good friends of mine. I was looking after them in the city - that's why I was there - until a spybot spotted me. I ran for it, but one of them hit me with a laser on the way out. I hit my leg on a metal post as I fell, and I had to crawl my way out of the city."

"Looks like you were lucky my distractions were going on," Sally said. "But Nintex, the five... friends... Well, I saw them. I'm sorry, Nintex. Robotnik's put them into... his machine."

Nintex stared blankly for a moment, as this registered. "You mean..." he said, "you mean I've... I've lost them?"

Sally nodded, and Tails instinctively put a hand on Nintex's shoulder as the grey fox leaned his face towards the pillow. Tails thought he was crying, but after a moment Nintex turned back towards them. The tears were refusing to come.

Suddenly Tails looked at Doctor Shepherd. "Um," he asked, "why am I here?"

The doctor didn't notice for a second, then said, "Uh, Nintex... well, Nintex said something earlier, and I wanted to see how he would react to you."

Tails thought about that. "I don't understand," he said, adjusting his position in the chair.

But as he did, Nintex caught sight of his two tails, and everyone in the room heard his intake of breath. Suddenly realising he was being looked at, Nintex shook his head. "Um, nothing. Um, I'm sorry, but I really need some peace and quiet. Is there anything else you need to ask me?"

Sally thought, then shook her head no. "I'll leave you to it," she said, standing up. She shook Nintex's hand and then left. Sonic gave him a blatantly mistrustful look and sped out. Tails walked to the door, but seemed unwilling to walk through it, turning back to stare at Nintex, wondering what all of that had meant. Finally he dragged his eyes away and shut the door behind him, mystified.

* * *

"And then he crept up behind me, and grabbed me around the neck!" Sonic said enthusiastically, arms waving to keep everyone's attention at him. The campfire gave him a nice reddish glow to go with his tale of bravado, and kept them warm in the chill of night. Three days had passed, and Sonic couldn't keep his audience entertained with the story of Robotropolis's howling. Sally had helped him along with that, but today someone had suggested that someone else tell a different tale. Perish the thought! So in his quest to keep the spotlight he reverted to an old story of an encounter with Metal Sonic, his robotic counterpart.

"I felt his steel - steel! - hands wrap themselves around me, and instantly I knew what it was. It was difficult to breathe, but I backtracked, pushing us both back into the wall and making him let go."

Tails sat opposite Sonic in the circle, with the fire between them, watching him with interest, although he was getting a little restless by a story that he had heard many, many, times. He could see others in the circle fidgeting and toying with bits of dirt on the ground, and wondered how long it would be before someone left the circle completely. It would not be the first time, by any means - especially for Sonic.

"I turned around to face him, and he threw a punch at me. I dodged and grabbed his arms. We sort of grappled for a bit, then he threw me off and turned to run back into... let's see, he turned around, and I chased him and caught him just as he got to the middle of the bridge. Of... there was this big reactor, and it ran on either side of the bridge. It was metal, the bridge I mean, and there were rails on either side but they weren't much good."

Beside Tails, Sally leaned over and quietly asked him, "Was there a reactor last time?"

Tails whispered back, "We're not meant to be there yet. He'll realise in a moment that he's in the wrong place." He smiled at the thought, turning his attention once again back to Sonic.

"I tripped him up," Sonic said, "and he fell to the ground. I spindashed him, and that pushed him up again. He turned to face me, and said, 'Now you will die, Hedgehog!'

"So I said, 'Go ahead. Make my day.'

"He ran forward, making to punch me again, but I leapt right over him and kicked him from behind. He fell backw-"

He was interrupted by a click from afar, much quieter than he was but apparently more interesting, as his entire audience turned to glance in that direction. It had come from the medical hut, where Doctor Shepherd was opening the door for Nintex, who was on crutches. Nintex hobbled over to the group, to stand opposite Sonic and behind Tails, whose neck was hurting from having to peer straight up.

Several people offered friendly greetings to Nintex, but Sonic passed him a disgusted look, both for stealing his audience's attention and for... for existing in the first place. He had obviously not forgiven him for using the teleporter.

"What's all this?" Nintex cheerily asked the group, smiling wide.

Sonic stared at him. "Storytelling," he said through gritted teeth.

Nintex's eyebrows raised, and he paused, then said, "Mind if I listen?"

Sonic said nothing, and Nintex moved in to sit between Sally and Tails, who shuffled apart for him. Sally helped him down from the crutches.

Nintex nodded to Sonic politely, which seemed to make Sonic's anger worse, but he recovered when he remembered where he was in the story. "Metal Sonic fell backwards to the ground. I gained all my strength and ran as fast as I could towards him. I hit him head-on and once again he stumbled to the ground."

He paused to stare at Nintex, who was chuckling, but kept going nonetheless.

"He lifted himself to his feet, and it looked like he was still as strong as ever, so I made for him. He stepped backwards, remembering he had to get back to base before Robotnik started his attack, and caught me off-guard by running right past me. A moment later he was off the bridge and then flying off towards Robotnik's base."

Sonic stopped again, but this time it was not Nintex but Knuckles, who called out, "So nothing interesting happened with the bridge? Why all the detail - was it there for suspense?" He had never heard the story before.

"No, it was there because it was there," Sonic said, annoyed, then paused. Tails grinned as he saw the sudden realisation appear on his face. Sonic stood there silently for several seconds. "No, wait," he said finally. "No, the bridge wasn't there, that was later. The bridge was over the reactor at Robotnik's base; Metal Sonic fought me in the corridor..."

"So the reactor wasn't there either?" Knuckles, confused and annoyed, asked a silenced Sonic.

Nintex was shaking his head and grinning. Sonic saw him and pointed a finger. "What's your problem, Mr. Hanyu?" he called.

Nintex didn't reply, but he didn't stop grinning either.

Sonic was so furious at the fox's attitude that he didn't notice that grins had already passed all the way around the circle (save Knuckles). He threw up his hands and yelled, "Well, if you think you can do better, go on then! Tomorrow night, you can try!"

And he stormed out of the circle, seething.


	3. The Launch

Metal fingers flew over the console. "One minute to launch." Sir Charles Hedgehog winced and grimaced as the synthesised voice flared over the speaker. Reams of computer code flashed up and down the screen as he desperately tried to find a line he could break. It looked like it had been written by a robot without any idea of how a human would use the language, and all the names were confusing and unhelpful.

"Fifty seconds to launch." Distracted by the voice again, Sir Charles turned his attention back to the screen. Ah, here was a place. It looked like this section was designed to hold a set of co-ordinates, so if he wiped them clear... Well, it was a simple enough trick. He brought the entry cursor down to the point to start typing at.

"Forty seconds to launch." Argh, that voice! Once again Sir Charles looked back down, typing in the line it would take. Just one line, but he could tell something was wrong. The co-ordinates were held _here_, he thought quickly, so what was this co-ordinate set over _here_?

"Thirty seconds to launch." It was too late to dwell. The package needed to be uploaded before the ten-second mark, otherwise the cables would be severed and it would be too late. Sir Charles assembled the program, hoping that he had not made a mistake. Seconds passed... compiling... linking... done. '0 errors,' reported the screen.

"Twenty seconds to launch." Sir Charles relief was short-lived – he needed to get the program uploaded _now_. He hit the directory listing – tense two seconds passed – then the new filesystem appeared. He was pushing the file on so fast he was surprising himself. Uploading... uploading... uploading... done. File received, 24146 bytes. Folder write-protect, he commanded. Sending command... sending... sending...

Snap. There went the cables. "Ten seconds to launch," clamoured the robotic voice again. But Sir Charles saw on his screen, 'Permissions updated', and knew that the command had been received. He was relieved, but it was a gamble – if it worked, the satellite would be useless and irreparable. If he had messed up his bug, he would not be able to reconnect through radio to fix it.

"Five." Sir Charles looked upward to the speaker on the wall that the voice was coming from. He was in a boxy metal room with one side made of glass, showing the outside view: a massive indoor terminal, just a very large room loaded with unused and probably unusable space vehicles. He looked away from the screen for the first time in a while and below him, on the ground of the terminal, was the satellite, hooked up to a crane for easy take-off. His distracted mind never caught the final numbers of the countdown, but then he felt the vibrations and grabbed the chair for support as the speaker sounded:

"Lift-off."

* * *

Slowly Sonic awoke, listening quietly to the birds and his own memory. He could remember the anger of yesterday, but the night had dulled it, as if he were looking at the scene through dusty glass. He felt weary, and Nintex had become just another someone in the background.

When Sonic crawled into the community hut, some time later, much of the food had already been claimed. Sally looked up from her table at the other end and waved at him. Sonic waved back, grabbed three slices of toast from the racks and navigated through the tables to her.

"Hi, Sal," Sonic said.

"You look tired."

"So do you."

"That's from this," Sally said, glancing down at her hand where Nicole was busy listing filenames. "I was working on this. The problem with robots is that they make so many files that it takes years to sort through all of them."

Sonic finished a mouthful. "How far are you?" he asked, bending round to see the screen.

"Well, I've gone through most of them. I'm almost done. It's all okay except for this satellite launch he's planning. Looks like it's aimed for us."

"What, you mean, looking for us?"

"I can't make it out," Sally said, and she sounded frustrated. "I _think_ it's meant to search for us, but half of this is English and half is illegible computer code. And Nicole doesn't understand it, either. I mean... I mean, just look at this." She turned the screen to Sonic. It was displaying pure gibberish, a long stream of random symbols. "It's so irritating."

"Well, we do know he's up to something," Sonic said, putting a hand on Sally's wrist for support. "Maybe we ought to check it out. Sal, does it say when the thing goes up?"

Sally said, "Yes."

* * *

Sir Charles let his death-grip on the seat relax as the unnatural vibrations calmed, then faded. He had forgotten, in his haste to alter the program, that he would see the craft's launch. The force of lift-off was strong enough to jar his senses, and he would have lost his footing if he had not grabbed the chair.

The craft was dart-shaped, sleek black, with a long solar panel on either side. Sir Charles subconsciously watched it rise, following the streak of orange light from its engines, until it disappeared above the roof and out of his line of sight. Slowly he made to get up again, feeling rather awkward, and composed himself, not really realising that he was alone.

The speaker clicked again, drawing his attention. "Lift-off confirmed successful, the satellite is flying straight on course. We should have a triangulation of Knothole's location within five minutes."

"Excellent," said a new voice. Robotnik. "I don't even think they know. Is our tracker still transmitting?"

"Yes, sir. We have the signal but we can't properly track it without the craft in orbit. Estimated time, three minutes."

Sir Charles listened. He was aware that his time was limited; that at any moment someone else could enter the room. Technically, though, he had the right to be here. And if it wasn't Snively, then he should be able to hold his place. And he had to know what was going on. The satellite could track Knothole; that much had been public network information for days. But Robotnik made it sound like someone at Knothole was sending signals _for_ him. And that was dangerous. But he would know in a few minutes whether his edit had worked.

Silence. For a while Sir Charles was left to his own thoughts; they weren't helpful. If Robotnik knew Knothole's location... well, Knothole had been ravaged once by Robotnik. It seemed so long ago. But now Sir Charles was looking at the same thing again... and it terrified him. Sonic was there. Sally was there. With three little numbers, Robotnik could win over the resistance.

"The satellite is transmitting, sir," said the robotic voice. "But it isn't at nearly enough accuracy yet. The co-ordinates... checking..."

"Yes?" came Robotnik's voice.

"They're all zeroes."

Silence for a few seconds.

"And the system is registering no change in the satellite's readouts, sir. It's just sending zeroes."

"What about the autopilot system?" asked Robotnik.

_The autopilot system!_ Sir Charles started at this, and swore. Of course that was what the second co-ordinates were for! But... a robot could link itself to the autopilot network, and would be sent directions to its destination. And then Robotnik would still be able to find Knothole...

Please say it's broken, Sir Charles found himself thinking. Say it thinks Knothole is up in the sky, or underneath the Mobian Sea, or wherever...

"I have connected to the network," the robotic voice replied. "It is directing me north. It does not have much accuracy at this distance, but I believe it is still operational."

Sir Charles slumped back in his seat, defeated. Knothole was indeed north of Robotropolis. The autopilot was still working, and he had write-protected the program, preventing a second edit through a radio connection.

"Very well," Robotnik said. "No change in the zeroes?"

"No change, sir."

"Then we will continue as best as we can. Continue readying the strike force, we will approach them with the autopilot system."

"Yes, sir."

"And if you _do_ find out why the co-ordinate system has failed... you will destroy the one responsible. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir."

The speaker clicked off. For a moment Sir Charles waited for another signal to come through, but it didn't happen. He had to go, to warn the others...

* * *

The door opened. Sally looked up to find Sonic, who had returned from his morning run amidst the Great Forest, striding in. Sally had long since finished her breakfast, but remained, staring intently not at Nicole's screen, but at the hologram she was projecting outwards, depicting Robotropolis.

"Sal!" Sonic called, walking across the room towards her. "What's up?"

"You are, and so am I. We're going out to Robotropolis, Sonic Hedgehog."

Sonic blinked, almost tripping over a chair. "Really? We're after that satellite, right?"

"Yeah," Sally replied, nodding. "We need to destroy it ASAP. Fancy a visit to Sir Charles?"

"Uncle Chuck? Why?"

"Because I reckon he has a clue what's going on, which is more than we can say. Besides, we don't have the firepower here, and I'll bet he has something we can use."

Sonic finally made it to Sally and Nicole's hologram. "Chuck lives here-ish," he said, pointing. "Could we teleport there?"

"Not inside," Sally said, "that's too tight. And Robotnik might notice the energy build-up. But if we drop down _here_, we can pass these buildings and get to his hideout. After that we can ask him for help, and from then on... well..."

"We improvise," Sonic finished.

Sally smiled weakly. "Yeah, we improvise."

It was clearly not the kind of plan she liked. They sat there for silence for a few seconds, then Sonic pointed to one of the tower buildings, not far from Uncle Chuck. "Hey, Sal," he said slowly, "isn't this the refinery building?"

"Oh, gosh," Sally said, suddenly realising. "Sonic, you mustn't point that out to Nintex!"

"I know, I know. I just don't fancy coming home and saying, 'Hi, Nint, we saw your guys while we were gone.' He'd probably snap."

Sally hesitated. "...So what do we do, then?"

"I dunno. He's _supposed_ to be able to take loss. Otherwise he wouldn't be here."

"Now you're talking nonsense," Sally replied. "Being here has nothing to do with it. It's not like he's a Freedom Fighter; he's just here to get his leg fixed. Then we'll probably send him off to one of the other cities."

"Oh, yeah, like Robotropolis," Sonic said, chuckling.

Sally frowned at him. "Sonic Hedgehog, you can be a perfect irritant at times."

"Well, it's true, ain't it? How'd he get there in the first place?"

"Ugh, I don't know, Sonic. Go and ask him, make yourself useful. Run around. Do something. We can't leave just yet anyway. I need to get myself... sorted out."

Sonic laughed, "Washing your hair?" and then dodged her punch.

* * *

While Sonic and Sally were in the community hut, Nintex, who had no hut of his own, had slept with Tails. Sally had sent Tails straight to sleep after Sonic's attempt at storytelling, and Nintex had not had a chance for proper conversation until now. He stayed lying down, for his leg's sake, looking up at Tails.

Nintex found the young fox fascinating, and the two hit off well. Tails was naturally quite talkative, and as their conversations continued Nintex could not help drawing – not always accurate – parallels between the two of them.

"Well, I've always been like this," Tails had said, drawing his tails out for Nintex to see them. "I was just born this way. It's just something else unusual about me, but then again, I'd be pretty much a nothing without it. I'm good with computers, I'm _very_ good, but it's a bit more, bit more _real_ to have flight handy."

"Flight?" Nintex had asked, and Tails had demonstrated. _Well_, Nintex had thought, _that's a kitsune power if ever I saw one_. And when Tails lowered, Nintex, remembering Doctor Shepherd, had been hard-pressed not to say the K-word.

After an hour of waking time, Tails showed Nintex his laptop, the best demonstration Tails had of his aptitude with computers. "I built it," he explained, switching it on. "It's got loads of devices, although it's a big bulky for taking on a proper mission. Have a fiddle, and I'll go and get breakfast for you." And he left the hut, and Nintex was suddenly alone with the device.

He bent down, thought for a moment, and started to type...


	4. Kitsune on Kitsune

Author's note  
This chapter is special in an important respect. It contains in its entirety the full text of another story of mine, called "Locked Together." Please note that this story is also copyrighted by Sonic Lightspeed, and may not be redistributed without permission. Do not repost or edit; it is only for viewing on and and only within "Nothing Special", by Sonic Lightspeed, in chapter 4. Contact me for more information or if you notice it elsewhere. Apologies for the more noble-minded of you; I'm shutting up now. :-)

* * *

It was as Sonic and Sally were walking through Knothole, talking idly, that they heard a crash. They glanced at each other, then to the source of the sound. It had come from the supply hut.

"Hello?" Sonic called, peering around the door and venturing inside. The whole hut was full of crates of food, packaged up in different boxes for future use and preservation.

There was the sound of someone coughing, and Tails emerged from behind the pile, brushing the dust off his fur. "Oh, hi, Sonic," he said, a bit weakly.

"Tails?" Sally asked. "What're you doing here?"

Tails looked slightly guilty, and passed his gaze to the floor and then the ceiling. "Um, I was getting breakfast for me and Nintex," he said.

"Breakfast?" Sally repeated, looking a bit concerned. "But Tails, it's... it's eleven o'clock!"

"Yeah, that's why all the food is gone from the community hut, isn't it? I don't know what happened. First we overslept - because story time didn't really work - then we started talking, and we sort of forgot to eat."

"C'mon, Tails," Sonic said. "What can you talk about for... what, two hours?"

Tails paused. "Lots of stuff, just talking about Knothole and me."

"Oh, right," Sonic said. It had only just occurred to him that Nintex had been interested in Tails in the medical hut. Maybe his sleeping arrangements had been a bad choice. "Um, Tails, little bro... have you thought that Nintex might be a spy?"

The idea had never even occurred to Tails, and he shrank back, slightly fearfully. "A - a spy? But - but he's so nice! He's real friendly!"

Sally took over. "Tails, we don't know for sure. He's probably just a random person, and if that's true then it's all okay. But we can't be certain. He came here from Robotropolis, and Robotnik might have sent him. If he was a spy, he would _pretend_ to be nice, so that someone could tell him all about Knothole, and about the Freedom Fighters. Imagine what would happen if Robotnik found out about Sir Charles."

Tails was silent. He was slowly taking it all in. "I didn't tell him about Uncle Chuck." he said finally. "I was just... oh, gosh, don't worry, I won't say anything important. I didn't realise."

"Don't worry, little bro," Sonic said, messing up his fur. "Doesn't sound like a problem."

Sally leaned down at him. "There's no harm in making friends," she asserted. "But you do need breakfast, and he _is_ our guest."

"I fell over, round there," Tails said. "Everything's all in different boxes, and I was trying to put all our food together."

"I'll help," Sally said. "Don't worry about Nintex. Let's just make sure he doesn't starve."

* * *

Five minutes later, they had put together a suitable breakfast on a large tray. Making sure Tails was being careful, Sally left him to return to the community hut. Tails found himself walking up to the door of his own hut without thinking about it. Instead he was focused on what Sonic and Sally had said, and was determined to be a little more careful about what he divulged.

He reached the door. Inside, he knew, Nintex would be on his laptop computer, doing who-knows-what to it. He had just grasped the door handle, when from inside came a sharp "Ah!", and he put his ears to the door and listened instead. There was the sound of typing, but nothing else.

He turned the handle and opened the door.

Nintex jumped and looked up at Tails. He was still at Tails' desk, where he had been left, and the screen faced away from the door.

"Hi, Tails," Nintex said, pressing the Escape key absently. "Ooh, what's mine? I'm hungry."

"Hi," Tails said, although the word caught in his throat and came out in pieces. He sat down, but stayed tensely silent for a moment. Finally he found his voice. "Take whatever you want, but I..."

"You want some too?" Nintex grinned.

"...Yeah," Tails said weakly, glancing at the screen. "What're you doing?"

Nintex scrolled back up to the document he had been typing. "Something I remember from years ago. Sonic said he wanted me to be tonight's storyteller, so I thought that I might as well do something that will keep you thinking for the next few days. This one's a real puzzle."

" 'Locked Together'? " Tails asked, reading the title.

"It's not for reading now," Nintex said, and laughed sharply - Tails winced. "My life isn't nearly as interesting as Sonic's is, so I'm going to read _this_ in the storytelling time." He closed the file. "You can hear it then."

There was a long moment of awkward silence.

"Is something the matter?" Nintex asked, looking at Tails. "You seem awfully quiet."

"I'm fine," Tails said. "Listen, I need to go get ready for... for something, I'll, um, see you later."

Then he practically ran out the door. Outside, he leaned on the wall beside it, out of Nintex's line of sight, breathing hard, trying to calm down.

Nintex looked out, slightly pained.

* * *

"That's all I have," Sally said. "We drop in, walk this path here, take the ducts through to _here_, and Sir Charles's base is _here_. And I suppose that's all we can prepare."

"Does he know we're coming?" Sonic asked.

"No," Sally admitted. "I can't get in touch with him. But according to the transfer information, he comes off-shift between seven and nine in the morning. We'll have to meet him then."

"So you mean, we have to wait till tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Sally said, sounding a little dejected. "Let's hope Robotnik doesn't find us by then."

"Cheer up, Sal," Sonic said optimistically. "It'll be cool. And there's a plus side to the delay, you know."

"What's that?"

"I get to hear Nintex's story," he explained. "Or at least, I think he'll try. He'll muck it up, betcha." He laughed, but Sally just shook her head.

* * *

Nintex was no longer thinking about the story. He was worried about Tails. The fox had run from him, and that was just awful. Nintex had no idea what had happened to cause it, but something about him had made Tails run.

Although he had made sure to look up, and even questioned some passing villagers, Tails had pretty much vanished from sight. Returning to the hut at lunchtime, however, Nintex discovered that Tails' laptop computer had vanished. At least he was still here... somewhere.

Lunch went by (late, for Nintex), and dinner. Someone had spied Tails in the supply hut again, so he wasn't going hungry. And at one point Nintex had seen two tail-tips from behind his hut, although by the time he had got there - hobbling on his crutches - Tails had either outran him or flown off.

It had occurred to Nintex, for the first time, that Tails was not only a kitsune.

He was also a kid, and easily scared.

Nintex gave up as the sun went down, and the rest of Knothole got the fire ready.

* * *

Tails made for an odd sight. He had placed himself lengthwise on a very thick branch, some way up one of the largest trees the Great Forest had to offer. Below him was enough in leaves and branches to make him invisible from underneath. On his lap was his computer, and his teeth were gritted as he searched through the hard drive.

'Locked Together', Nintex's bizarre story, was one of the first things he had found, and he had spent some time staring at it, wondering if it contained some kind of hidden message. Unable to decipher it, he had gone through the list of the other files that Nintex had opened up. There were quite a few system files, but nothing that seemed suspicious. For some of them, Tails would even admit to having opened on other systems, including Nicole.

Then he checked the keystroke logs. Tails always kept the logger active, since one day months ago, when he had lost half an hour's work when he forgot to save a file. Inside the log, Nintex seemed to have written a detailed description of Knothole, Tails, Sonic and Sally. He seemed to have typed the file out, but not saved it. Which could mean anything. He could have e-mailed it.

Tails had spent some time in the treetops, and much of it in tears. Sonic's revelation had come as a big shock. Although Tails had had plenty of time to think, his imagination had worked against him, fancying stories of Nintex spying in on Sonic and Sally, listening to them talk about Uncle Chuck.

And in each scene, Tails was watching him, and doing nothing.

* * *

"I think she's broken," Sally said, defeated.

Sonic looked at the device. "What's the matter, Sal?"

"Nicole," the squirrel replied. "She keeps telling me there's a fault in operations. I think she needs a new processor unit."

Sonic winced. "Those things are expensive," he said.

Sally nodded, putting the unit down on the table. "_Some_ things are working - you wouldn't even know there was something wrong! - but some things are just plain failing. I can't do a lot with her on my own."

"What about Robotnik?" Sonic asked. "Could we borrow something off him? After all, we are visiting him tomorrow."

"It would be too deep in the machinery," Sally replied, shaking her head. "We'd have to disassemble it completely, then weld it off. Not possible. We'll have to send off to one of the cities." She sighed heavily. "I don't think she's up to coming with us," she said.

"You make her sound like a sick person," Sonic said, smiling.

Sally nodded.

* * *

"How many others are we waiting for?" Nintex asked, leaning forward towards the now-roaring fire.

"Doctor Shepherd wanted to listen in," Sally said. "Other than that... wait..." She counted each person round the circle, then realised who was missing. "Where's Tails?"

The absence of Tails from a storytelling session disconcerted her. Usually Tails was the first there.

"Has anyone seen Tails?" Sally called out.

But Nintex, beside her, replied, "I haven't seen him all day. And I think he engineered that."

Sally was quiet for a moment. "Oh," she finally said. "Well, that's not very good. Hope he's okay." She already had a good idea of what had happened.

Sonic walked up from his check of Knothole. "Looks like everyone's here, except Tails," he said, almost without thinking. "Want me to go fetch him?"

The question was directed at Sally, who replied, "Check his hut; if he's there, ask him if he wants to come."

Sonic gave her the thumbs-up, and walked off towards Tails' hut, wondering what was going on. He hadn't realised that Tails had reacted badly to Nintex. Tails' hut was soundless.

Sonic knocked on the door. "Tails, little bro, are you in there?" he asked quietly.

There was a sniffle, a pause, and the door opened. The next moment Sonic found himself in a hug that never quite reached his shoulders. The fur under Tails' eyes were matted and clumped from crying.

"Oh, Sonic, it was Nintex!" he choked. "I didn't mean it, I'm sorry! I stayed away from him after you said he was a spy, I didn't say a word..."

Sonic felt a lump rise in his throat. He finally understood. "Oh, _Tails_... you shouldn't have worried. I told you not to worry, didn't I?"

It took several minutes to calm Tails down. Tails admitted that he had already read Nintex's story, but agreed to listen anyway, to help him relax.

Nintex looked surprised when Sonic rounded the corner, holding Tails' hand, and sat down at the fire. Sally moved to join them, concerned at Tails' still-ragged state. Nintex's audience was complete, however. "Is everyone ready?" he asked.

Around the circle, everyone nodded assent.

"Right," he said, leaning forward again, tail twitching. "The story I've got for you is something I wrote some years back. It's not about me, but it's just... well, it's very short."

Knuckles interrupted: "Once upon a time, the end."

Nintex chuckled, as did several others. Tails did, but it came out choked. "Not _that_ short," Nintex replied, "but still short. And it isn't obvious, either. I'll say it's about three days before someone tells me what it's all about."

"Get on with it!" Sally called, laughing. "Stop boasting!"

"Fair enough," Nintex said, eyebrows raised. "Here we go."

Tails listened to the words as they came, familiar to him and no one else.

"I slowly came across the bridge with my love," Nintex said clearly.

Across the campfire, Sonic gawked, but uncharacteristically remained quiet. Beside him, Sally put Nicole down. The unit was set to record Nintex's story. That, at least, Sally trusted her to get right.

"She smiled sweetly at me. She tried to speak but nothing happened, and I found the same thing; my lips moved, but I couldn't find the words."

Nintex paused. Sonic wasn't sure if it was from nerves, or for dramatic effect. Nothing dramatic had happened, but Sonic had already realised that this was not an action story.

"After a moment we walked off the bridge, stopping just at the other side."

Pause. Nintex had his audience's undivided attention. It was clear from the way he was speaking that he was reciting something he had memorised, as opposed to the improvisation that Sonic's storytelling was always filled with.

" 'We're slaves to ourselves,' she said."

Nintex smiled at the frown that had appeared on Sonic's face.

" 'We have to follow,' I replied. 'We have to. Or we'll just see ourselves as nothing. I do love you, really... we're moving again...' "

Pause again. Nintex adjusted his weight on his crutches, seemingly deep in thought.

"I glanced back at the water's surface, but the force kept me moving away, and I had to look forward. Not that I minded. The water was so difficult, we both felt it."

Sonic was staring at the ground impatiently, clearly aware that he had no chance of figuring out what was going on unless Nintex made it obvious.

"We passed another pond, and again we were locked together by feelings we couldn't have. If I could have moved a muscle, I would have started throwing insults at my master, past the water's surface. As it was, I had to calmly speak silence into the air, and watch the world under the water, as our vantage point rippled its dead-still image."

Pause again.

Pause.

Sonic suddenly looked up at Nintex, who had shut his mouth and had a triumphant look on his face. He didn't resume speaking.

"That's it!" Sonic cried.

"That's it," Nintex affirmed.

"But that's..." He couldn't really find the word for it, and ended up spluttering nothing coherent.

And for the first time in a good while, Tails was laughing.

* * *

Although the storytelling that night was more successful than Sonic's, the night before, it didn't really help in the way it was meant to. Nobody slept very well, because everyone was pondering Nintex's story. Even Tails had no idea, although it didn't really put him out. Nintex had been in silent victory for some time, and that feeling kept _him_ awake too.

Sonic and Sally had a good excuse to go to sleep early, since they had to be up at six-thirty to have breakfast before heading to Robotropolis. It was good, then, that Nintex's story was short, and not so good that it was confusing. Sally slept well, pushing 'Locked Together' to the back of her mind, but Sonic was taunted by the idea that Nintex was better at this than he was. And he wasn't yet ready to trust the fox, either.

Tails was too tired for anything _but_ sleep when the session was over. His episode had made him weary. He remained in his hut, and when Nintex rejoined him, although looking slightly uncomfortable, Tails made no complaint. He slept more soundly than he expected.

Although he was awakened prematurely. One ear flicked at an unexpected _click_. Then he was awake, and disoriented.

It was dark, just breaking into dawn. The clock on his desk told him it was quarter to seven. And -

And Nintex was gone.

That, more than anything else, ensured Tails' wakefulness. He was up in a second, looking out the door which should have been closed. It was just ajar, a light zephyr finding its way in.

Tails made his way out. He knew that he would never have got up this early on his own. Knothole was mostly dark, but the lights in the community hut were on. Doubtless Sonic and Sally were in there, eating and planning. So where was Nintex? Maybe he was with them?

When Tails opened the community hut, it was not what he was expecting. Sonic and Sally were not here, but Nintex was, along with Rotor, Knothole's mechanic, and Doctor Shepherd, who looked irritated that he was up so early. Nintex and Rotor were talking amongst themselves, and between them was the teleporter that Sonic and Sally were due to use.

"Months' work, this darn thing," Rotor was saying. "More technology in this than in your average supercomputer." He looked up. "Oh, hi, Tails! Up so early?"

"He woke me up," Tails explained, pointing at Nintex, who shrugged.

"Sonic and Sally are getting food," Rotor explained, and instantly Tails understood. The supply hut. But they wouldn't eat there, if Tails knew them. They both liked all the company they could get.

A thought occurred to Tails. "Rotor, how long will they be gone?" he asked.

The walrus thought about it. "Till whenever they're back, I 'spose. They have to take down a satellite. It's all up to how good Sir Charles's info is."

Sonic and Sally burst into the room, laughing too loudly. Sally continued, "Yeah, but it'll be soda next time, and you'll get all sticky." That brought the room to dead silence. Sonic looked very wet, too.

"What?" he asked.

From then on, while the two of them ate, preparing for the trip using a map for help (Nicole's projector no longer worked), Tails sat far enough away to think clearly. The two of them were both hyperactive.

Rotor listened into their plans, then set up the teleporter for a double jump. It took a minute or two, but Sally took longer to eat than that, and final preparations were made to cover for that time. She was getting a little tense as the final minutes approached.

Tails had stopped watching them. Their plans didn't include him, so watching seemed a waste of time. All it would do was give him a reason to fret at their lateness. He remembered yesterday, and was tired of fretting.

So instead he ate, aware that getting back to sleep would prove impossible. Doctor Shepherd watched from a corner, idly eating as well. Nintex and Rotor were sitting by the teleporter unit, waiting for Sonic and Sally to finish up and use it.

Suddenly Tails' heart missed a beat. Rotor was looking at Sonic and Sally, and not at Nintex. He had missed the momentary glance that Nintex gave the room, before brushing the controls of the teleporter with one finger. Tails' eyes widened and he quickly looked away, putting his nose right on his table.

_I told you not to worry, didn't I?_ said Sonic's voice inside his head. _Don't worry about Nintex,_ Sally affirmed. But now the images of his imagination were reawakening. Sonic and Sally appearing suspended five hundred feet about the ground. Sonic and Sally appearing in a deep ocean, with no islands on any side. Sonic and Sally appearing half-embedded in the side of a metal building. Tails winced, but then shook his head clear.

_I'm tired of fretting_, said the voice inside his head that was his own. And as Rotor set the teleporter down on the ground, Tails made no comment. After all, Nintex hadn't actually _touched_ the controls, had he? He'd just waved his hand close to them...

"Sonic, Sally," Rotor said. Nintex, Tails noticed, stood well back from the teleporter. But then again, so did Doctor Shepherd.

Sonic and Sally moved towards the dish, and Tails had the massive feeling of impending disaster, although he had never heard himself quieter.

"Good luck," Rotor said.

"Thanks," Sonic replied.

Sonic stepped up onto the unit. The dish glowed a bright blue for a second, and then Sonic was gone.

Tails stood up and walked closer, his mind taunting him. _You know Sonic just died, don't you? And it's all your fault..._

Sally stepped on the unit, and vanished.

_And now she's dead too..._

It took Tails, and everyone else, a moment to realise what had gone wrong. The teleporter was still there, expecting a _third_ person.

"What the hell -" Rotor began. Then Nintex shoved him right out of the way and threw himself at the unit.

"No!" Tails yelled, also jumping. He was too low, however. While Nintex made a wobbly landing on the dish, which lit up blue, Tails fell short, hands just gripping the pad and accidentally forcing the controls into a new setting.

Then he held onto the device for dear life, as the world flashed a brilliant blue, and the hut vanished from around him.


	5. Return to the City

Darkness.

Blinding darkness.

Rain pelted Tails' body like bullets, making him flinch in the air. The teleporter swung wildly in his grip as gravity came into effect. Tails let it go and flew, almost by instinct. Only then did he realise that that was a bad idea; the device fell some twenty feet onto a metal surface below. Nintex fell too, and collided with the ground with a jarring _thud_. When Tails had got himself down, his comrade was unmoving.

"Wake up!" he yelled desperately, shaking Nintex by the chest. But the fox didn't; he simply lay on the ground, offering no resistance. The teleporter had taken damage too; in fact, it looked beyond repair. It had smashed on the metal; some components had scattered over the ground and Tails could see a circuit board snapped right in half by the collision.

He gave up on both of them and slowly looked up, to see where he was.

The sky was dark with clouds. As Tails watched, lightning flared some way away, followed by the thunder half a second later. The rain was so thick that he was already drenched, and his fur was completely stuck together. The city smelled of oil and smoke, and Tails realised that he was not on ground level – he was poised on the edge of a five-storey tower building. Underneath his feet and the sound of the rain he could hear the systematic sound of heavy machinery. Over the side, below him, was one of the dirt paths, except that it had become muddy sludge from the rain.

Turning away from the side of the building, Tails noticed a set of crates with him on the roof, and on one of the far corners was mounted a large long-range antenna – Tails guessed that it was for Robotropolis's autopilot system. Above him were long rows of hovercraft, forming queues that moved no slower than one could do singly. Robotnik always kept his traffic moving.

He saw blue in the corner of his eye.

Sonic was below him, on the muddy trail, trying not to slip. Sally stood behind him, less visible on a brown surface, also having footwork problems. Tails grinned at the sight of them. They were alive! He called out to them: "SONIC!"

But the rain was too loud, and it drowned him out completely. Sonic and Sally didn't even notice him, and carried on walking past his building. He put his hands to his mouth and tried again:

"SONIC! SALLY! SONIC! OVER HERE!"

But they didn't even notice.

"SONIC! SONIC, SALLY!"

Nothing. They were walking away from him, oblivious. Tails wasn't ready to give up, and was just getting ready to leap off to fly to them, but then something happened. One of the hovercraft seemed to be completely ignoring the queue system, and Tails got a good look at it as it flew right past his face. It had a red stripe along its side that no other had.

Tails tried to hide behind the tiny jut-out that marked the edge of the building. He knew what that stripe meant. That was Robotnik's personal hovercraft, and of all things, he didn't want to be seen by the great doctor. He retreated away from the edge and accidentally caught his foot on one of Nintex's discarded crutches.

Robotnik's ship passed by him, and he breathed a sigh of relief –

There was a flash of lightning, far, far too close. Thunder exploded, rocking Tails' ears, making him shriek and grab the motionless Nintex.

The antenna.

It lay in flaming pieces, surrounding the transmitter base, wrecked. The next sound was a mechanical klaxon that was even louder than the rain, because it came from a hundred places at once.

The hovercraft queues fell apart, becoming a massive swarm, and the danger appeared instantly as each one tried to track the autopilot network without a broadcaster. The sky filled with crashes and bright explosions as the craft manoeuvred into one another. The one that was Robotnik's was no better off; it veered around a complete one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, finishing its turn and aiming right for one of the buildings.

Tails watched it approach, until he realised that it was coming for the building he was on.

"Come on!" he yelled uselessly to Nintex. No reply came, so Tails grabbed his arm and tried to drag him behind the crates on the rooftop. Nintex's body resisted him too much.

The hovercraft came crashing down on the other side of the rooftop. It slid, grating loudly, sparks flying, and eventually halted not too far from the other edge. Tails gave up the struggle with Nintex and ducked down to his level, trying to keep himself still.

The door opened, and then Tails forgot about hiding.

It was indeed Robotnik flying the craft, but not as Tails had ever seen him. As he stepped out, he had one hand to his head, trying desperately to control himself. He meandered away from his vehicle and collapsed on his hands and feet. Then the doctor burped loudly and threw up all over the metal rooftop.

Tails watched for a moment longer, then pointed and burst out laughing at him.

He gasped as the doctor looked right into his eyes, burning fury at him. Robotnik lifted himself to his feet, composing himself, and Tails lost his will to laugh.

"Well, well," he said, pointing back. "Fox-boy Tails comes down to see the show."

He pulled something out of his pocket, and threw it over. Instinctively Tails reached out to catch it, but the moment it was in his hands, SWATbots came up from behind him and had him in their grip.

Tails strained for a moment, then realised what he was holding. It was a device he'd created himself not long ago, for five uses on Sally's mission. The device that sent Sonic's phoney video out to the nearest spybot. Sally must have left it here without realising.

"I see you're not alone," he said, staring down at Nintex's form below him, then back at Tails. "Stop struggling, boy. It will help nothing."

Tails knew it. He fell limp in the SWATbot's impenetrable grasp.

"Knothole's newcomer," he said. "Nintex Hanyu… I expected him in better shape."

Tails' jaw fell open. His unasked question flicked across the air without any need.

"Oh, come on, fox-boy. I have my knowledge, you have yours. But you must know, surely, that dear old Hanyu here has just returned from a short absence?"

"Old?" Tails asked, not meaning to.

"Much older than you," Robotnik replied with a subtle sneer. Tails caught it and shut up, glowing from embarrassment. But a moment later the doctor was smiling broadly. "Come on, boy!" he enthused. "My city is a fantastic sight in the morning, don't you think? I'd like to show you around. And your friend here, we can't forget him, now, can we?"

Tails couldn't find a suitable reply.

* * *

"You!" called a voice. Sir Charles froze in place, and turned to look. At the other end of the corridor was the last person he wanted to see: Robotnik's tiny nephew, Snively.

"Where are you going?" he called accusingly, walking up. "Off-shift power units are that way." He pointed to one of the off-hand corridors.

Sir Charles thought fast. "Seeking repairs, heading for maintenance area."

"I'd _love_ to repair you," Snively replied cruelly. "What is the nature of the problem?"

"Motor."

"_Ah_," he continued, "limbs all messed up. Care to let me rearrange them for you?"

"Maintenance area has detailed information about the problem," Sir Charles replied.

Snively frowned. "Get going, then. And hurry up! We need you in proper service by nine _sharp!_"

Sir Charles ran down the corridor towards the maintenance area, not looking back. His hideout was in the other direction, so he would have to make a turn quite soon.

As he made his way through the different sections of the city, he found himself wondering just how serious Snively was about his 'offer'.

* * *

"Come on," Robotnik greeted, gesturing to the hovercraft.

Tails obliged, not because he wanted to, but because he was being pushed by the SWATbot. The hovercraft was sleek black inside, and the LED-lit controls made for quite a futuristic-looking set-up. Robotnik sat down in the pilot's seat and Tails was thrust into the co-pilot's. He felt very small beside the doctor, and made no effort to resist his captors.

Two SWATbots came in carrying Nintex together. He was carefully set down in the back compartment. His crutches, interestingly, were thrown in with him.

"How can you see?" Tails asked. He was talking about the front window, onto which the rain was falling, smearing outside vision badly.

"I have tricks," Robotnik said, and then a moment later the window began to clear. The rain seemed to be falling away from it. "Forcefield generator," he continued. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

Tails had to nod. The door clicked shut behind him, and he knew he was in this for the long run.

The craft took off with queer silence, and the floor buckled as it accelerated into the air. Tails stared at the control board in front of him, and shrank back from it. He had no desire to touch the controls. Not a single one was labelled.

Suddenly he noticed two figures outside, on the dirt-track. Sonic and Sally. He had forgotten about them. So much for using his device. He glanced sideways to Robotnik, who raised an eyebrow at them.

"So you two aren't alone here…" he said. "Interesting… I did wonder whether you could get here on your own." He snickered for a moment.

"Are you going to take them?" Tails asked, dreading the response.

Robotnik thought for a long moment. "No," he replied. "No, I have a better idea."

Tails' ears flattened. Maybe he would have been better off with 'yes'…

Something beeped above Robotnik's console, and he glanced to the side, away from Tails. He pushed a button and the image of Metal Sonic appeared on a screen. The robot paused for a moment to note Tails' presence and decided to say something else.

"Master, what has happened?"

"I've brought a friend!" Robotnik laughed, glancing at Tails, who tried to pull away. He was still held in place by the SWATbot. "We could make him number twelve, couldn't we!" He carried on laughing.

"He would resist," Metal Sonic replied, then returned the joke: "And you would forget, as with seventeen. Is he your only prisoner?"

"No," Robotnik answered, glancing back to Tails. "Hanyu is unconscious with us. And we have other visitors below, but I'll introduce them myself later. Is there anything else?"

Metal Sonic paused for a moment. "Lightning has just struck one of the autopilot transmitters," he said.

Robotnik frowned. "I know that. I was here when it hit. Half the hovercraft out here are destroyed, and the others are down. I will finish this later." He cut the connection.

There was a moment's silence.

"He said 'prisoner'," Tails said uselessly.

Robotnik nodded. "You two will have to help me for the time being, I'm afraid."

Tails gulped and stared down at his feet.

* * *

Sir Charles stepped out the door and stared in shock.

The dirt-track was not the empty area it normally was. Hovercraft simply littered the scene all the way in both directions. Some of them had landed successfully on the track. Others had been ripped open in a mid-air collision. Sir Charles could see the SWATbot inside the nearest one, unmoving, frozen in an attempt to adjust the flight angle. The side of the craft was missing, as was the SWATbot's left arm. He could see a decent amount of the robot's electronics.

The whole scene simply froze him. What had happened? How could Robotnik have let something like this occur?

He remembered slowly that he was off-shift. He could go back to the hideout and check for news. Robotnik must have said something to explain all this.

He set off along the path. He sometimes tried to run, but in other places, hovercraft had fallen down together and he had to crawl between them. It was slow work.

Ten minutes later he passed the refinery area and turned left. It was a relief to get off the dirt-track, even if it meant passing through an alleyway. He ignored the taller buildings and went through, recognising everything.

A very large pile of scrap metal lay behind one of the buildings. Since that building was entirely disused, the metal had never been moved. What Robotnik hadn't realised was that there was a cavity inside it, housing a small few rooms.

Sir Charles found the Tesla coil that marked the entrance, and pulled. A whole square of rubbish came away, quite secured to a slab of metal. He carefully crawled through the gap and replaced the slab.

Once you were inside, you would never have known that it was under a pile of rubbish. It was cosy if a little tight, but around the room were various items that made it almost look like it was a basic living room. There were two doors to smaller rooms which were for storage.

This time, however, Sir Charles didn't glance around the place, enjoying his freedom here – he was staring at the two people right in the centre: Sonic and Sally.

"Hi!" he said, hugging his nephew. "Weren't expecting you here."

"We've got stuff to do, and help to find," Sonic replied. "And you're both."


	6. The Interrogation

Cell block sixty-seven. Floor six, area A. The room was dimly lit by small lights in each corner. There was no need for a prisoner to see much light, in the eyes of Robotnik. The room had eight individual cells, five of whom were occupied by robots awaiting release. Floor six had deliberately been left with just those five, and as Tails was walked into one of the other cells, and the SWATbots let him go and retreated, he slumped to the floor and cried.

Robotnik himself stood behind them, watching or controlling their movements; Tails couldn't tell which. "Don't worry," he said, smiling horribly, "you won't be alone for long." Tails made no sign that he had heard, and maybe he hadn't. His mind was reeling with the realisation; he had been captured by Robotnik. It had only just sunk in. He never noticed the doctor depart, leaving him alone with the other occupants.

They were totally silent. On a second check, Tails' cell was protected with a forcefield generator, completely blocking the sound from outside and leaving him with just a dull hum and his own loud breathing. He absently tried to push his hand through the bars, but the forcefield generator gently pulled him back. He didn't even bother to try again.

Slowly he found himself wondering how this had happened. Sonic and Sally had meant to be in Robotropolis, not him. But it was Nintex. Nintex _had_ touched the teleporter; on hindsight he thought he had always known it was not just a flick of the hand. But _why_? If Nintex was a spy, why would he have knocked himself out like that?

_No,_ Tails thought, _that was me. I touched the controls as well. I'll bet he wanted to come out with Sonic and Sally. It's my fault he's out cold – but why come here at all?_

Slowly Tails remembered what connected Nintex and Robotropolis. Nintex had mentioned having "five friends" in Sonic and Sally's interview. Maybe Nintex had come back for them. But they were roboticized, weren't they?

He blinked.

Five friends. Staring at him from the other cells around him.

Five friends.

They were here with him.

And they were all foxes.

The door opened, still with that strange silence from the forcefield generator. Robotnik walked in, four robots behind him, moving with him. Moving so well-coordinated with his footsteps that they might have been his extra limbs. Two of them carried Nintex. Robotnik walked over to a panel and flicked off the forcefield generator. The sudden sounds in the room caught Tails by surprise; Robotnik's footsteps, the SWATbots' clanking, and the soft padding of the other foxes around them.

"How come I can hear them?" Tails asked, finding his voice. "Surely they have forcefields?"

"Of course not," said Robotnik. "Your cell is high-security; theirs are nominal. They are not likely to attempt an escape, whereas you are. Assuming, of course, that you haven't two guns aimed at you."

He was right. The two other SWATbots were staring at him from afar, guns pointed at his chest. He didn't dare move. Robotnik opened the cell and gestured the robots inside, where they put Nintex down and backed out. They never once took their glance off Tails.

"He'll need these," Robotnik said, and one of the SWATbots handed him his crutches. Tails was not thinking clearly, and he was missing details; for him, the crutches had appeared from thin air. Robotnik tossed them in and pulled the cell shut.

Tails caught him with his finger on the forcefield button. "What happens now?"

Robotnik paused for a moment. "For you?" he asked. "Nothing much."

Then the field was on, and the silence resumed.

* * *

Robotnik left Tails to his own thoughts then, knowing full well that the moment his back was turned the fox would search the cell for a way out. Tails never liked to give up; it was a trait he inherited from Sonic. But Robotnik must be confident about the cell's security if he took the SWATbots with him.

There wasn't much in the cell. A video camera and a speaker were mounted at separate corners, and Tails would have disabled them if they weren't a possible link to the outside. The metal that made up one side of the cell was obviously very deep, and further experimentation convinced the fox that the forcefield was impenetrable. The floor and ceiling were both too thick and solid to even hope to get through, although at least it gave him something to stretch his tails for. At least the cell was kind of large; clearly it was meant for a group of people, unlike the other individual cages that his neighbours watched from.

The foxes. He found himself watching them. Yes, they were roboticized, but they looked out at him with an expression that Tails had never seen on a robot; a kind of innocent curiosity. They were watching him intently without really understanding what was going on within him. And it made him nervous. Tails knew the ins and outs of robots, and programming them to act like that was something that Robotnik just wouldn't do. And, come to think of it, why were they caged anyway?

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he smiled. _I think I get it. They're like Uncle Chuck. They're only robots, not slaves. They're free minded._

If only it were that simple.

* * *

It was a full two hours later. Tails had worried about what Sonic and Sally were doing, because he was completely cut off from them with the rest of the world. Determination and blind panic had melted together, making Tails' mind so active that sleep was impossible. Not that he hadn't tried, but within thirty seconds he was up and pacing again.

The first thing that changed within the room was Nintex. It came slowly, Tails noticing him twitch slightly, and then, mutter, "What now?"

Tails laughed, "Nintex!" He ran over and kneeled down, helping Nintex from a lying position to a sitting one. "Are you cool?"

"That's the Sonic in you," Nintex replied with a chuckle. "I'm fine, just a bit stiff. Where…?" He stopped, staring outside the bars at the robots. There was no doubt about it, these were his friends. His eyes watered as he stared at them. They stared back, yes, all five of them.

"They aren't actually roboticized," Tails said. "They just –"

Nintex interrupted: "Shut it."

Tails fell silent.

"I'm well aware they know who I am," Nintex said quietly. "But there's something wrong, there always was. Phil is nineteen, the oldest. Cy is the youngest; he's thirteen. But they're displaying all the intelligence and self-awareness of a four-year-old."

He wasn't expecting Tails to wince at that, and stared at him. "What is it?"

Tails looked down at his feet, trying to make his mind up. After a good five seconds he looked up again. "Every time people say stuff like that, it just hurts," he said.

"What did I say?" Nintex replied, readying his apology.

" 'Four-year-old,' " Tails replied. "It's just one of those things. When you've got a, um, problem, like, um, well, um…" His sentence dissolved.

Nintex was staring at him. "How old are you, Tails?" he asked.

Tails stared at the floor again. "I'm three."

"You're what?"

"I'm three."

Nintex frowned. "You're quite mistaken," he said, "to quote Shepherd. You're eleven minimum."

"I'm three," Tails repeated.

Nintex continued to stare into his eyes, trying to understand. "Tails… you can't be… Tails, when were you born?"

"Thirty-two, twenty," Tails replied. "February twenty-ninth."

Nintex thought briefly. "That makes you fourteen."

Tails looked up at him and met his gaze, repeating: "_February twenty-ninth._"

And then Nintex understood. He tried to find a suitable reply, but all he could manage was, "Oh."

" 'Oh.' " Tails repeated, his eyes watering. He slowly began to talk. "It's been… two years since my last birthday. That was thirty-two, and I had turned three. Sonic and Sally were… awesome party makers, and they got… they got everything, everything right. They even brought in a massive set of fireworks, just 'cause of me. And the whole village watched them, and they cheered for me, and it was the most fun I've ever, _ever_ had…"

Nintex stared at him, shocked by this revelation. Tails sniffed and Nintex saw a tear run past his muzzle.

"And then… and then it was over. And it's been two years. And I'm still waiting. February this year, I went to bed, and it was the day before… and… and then I woke up, and it was March… and the thing just never happened. And Sal tried to make a party, but it just… it just didn't work. And…"

He couldn't talk any more. He was crying, and Nintex just didn't know what to do. After a moment, Tails moved closer to Nintex, leaning forward, and hid his face under his arms. Nintex pulled him closer to comfort him, and let him lean on his cellmate's shoulders.

As seconds became minutes, Tails' sobbing slowly died down. Five minutes later, Nintex, sadly contemplating what Tails had said, came to the slow realisation that Tails was now quiet.

He had fallen asleep on Nintex's shoulders. Nintex decided not to resist, and let him be.

* * *

Nintex must have himself fallen asleep. Some time later, it was jarred by the sudden sounds of the room. Nintex opened his eyes and saw Robotnik, standing in front of the cell door, staring inside at the two foxes huddled together. Tails' eyes jerked open and he looked up at the doctor.

"Well, well," Robotnik said. "Group morale. I'd never have guessed. Please do not forget the SWATbots." He indicated them behind him. "Hanyu, stay inside. Prower, come." He opened the cell.

Tails froze for a moment, then lifted himself from Nintex and rose to his feet, trying to get himself awake. Robotnik motioned and Tails followed, outside the cell, but oddly enough, Robotnik stopped him there, closing the cell again. A SWATbot grabbed him from behind and held him right in place.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"Question time!" Robotnik barked back. "I've met a few problems with my daring ideas, and I need help."

"Questions?" Tails echoed. "But, I don't know anything about your plan. And even if I did, why would I need to tell you? And why should I?"

Robotnik stepped aside in response, calling out into the air, "_Twelve feet!_" As he did so, Tails realised that he was facing the exit to the cell block. But there was something moving there, and he squinted to make sense of it. First a blue form, then the black eyes with red pupils. A golden jet intake and claws sharpened to perfection…

Metal Sonic walked forward into the room. As he strode, Tails recognised him for what he was, and instinctively pulled back. But there was no escaping that grip of the SWATbot. And even if he did, Metal Sonic was in the way of the exit. Not forgetting Nintex, who was still in the cell.

No, there was no way out of death if Metal Sonic kept walking in that line towards him. But oddly enough, he didn't. He stopped some way back, although not enough to make Tails comfortable.

"Ahh, that's fine. Twelve feet is perfect. Fox-boy: keep an eye on Metal Sonic, because you never know when he'll ignore an order." He laughed. "As with myself, Metal Sonic places little emphasis on his own susceptibility. Above his orders is one primary goal: to hurt Sonic as much as possible, and ultimately kill him. And he will gladly kill you, just to hurt him."

Tails tried to take it in. "Why would you stop him killing me?"

"I need your answers, boy. But do you take him seriously? If not, then I'll just have to bring him closer."

Tails stared fearfully at the robot that stood in front of him. "Oh, gosh," he muttered. "It really wants to kill me, doesn't it?"

For indeed, Metal Sonic was staring at the fox with such fury in his eyes that Tails completely forgot himself. "Oh gosh, oh gosh oh gosh, it wants to kill me," he said, then looked at Robotnik. "…what's the question?"

"Did you disable the satellite navigation system?" Robotnik asked.

Tails looked at Metal Sonic and Robotnik in turn; they were both taller than him. "I thought it worked," he said. "Sally was worried that it worked."

"It does, in part, but _only_ in part. Someone made an unauthorized edit to the program. Was it you?"

"No," Tails said, shaking his head.

"_Ten feet!_" Robotnik called. Metal Sonic took a step closer and Tails' breathing got that much faster. "Was it you?" Robotnik repeated.

"No!" Tails yelled at him. "No it wasn't! Send him back! Send him back!"

Robotnik ignored the request. "Do you know who it was?"

"Send him back!"

In response, Robotnik shouted, "_Eight feet!_ Now _tell me_, fox-boy, _DO YOU KNOW WHO IT WAS?_"

"No!" Tails yelled, panicking as Metal Sonic advanced again. "No I don't! Send him back!"

Robotnik paused, knowing that Tails was telling the truth. Time for the next question. "How many of you are here?"

"Four!" Tails yelled, struggling in the SWATbot's grasp, no longer thinking clearly at all. "Sonic, Sally, me and Nintex! You've seen us all here! Send him back!"

"Why are you here?"

"Help! Nintex, help!"

"_Six feet!_ Fox-boy, _listen_ to my question! _Why are you here_?"

Tails watched as Metal Sonic took the next step forward. It seemed to take forever to happen, as if the robot was enjoying the torture. But for a brief moment, the mechanic inside Tails took over, and he watched the robot with interest as it brought its hand into a solid fist, motors inside whirring. Then he realised what it was going to use that fist for, and then –

"_Four feet! Why are you here?_"

"I don't know!" Tails screamed, as Metal Sonic advanced once again. "Sonic and Sally went, and Nintex messed up the teleporter and I grabbed it! I'm not _meant_ to be here! Let me go! Get that robot back!"

Robotnik listened to this answer with interest. "Interesting… that's a question for Hanyu, then…"

"Help, Nintex!" Tails called. He had lost the focus to tell whether or not Nintex actually knew he was yelling. "HELP!"

"Fox-boy," Robotnik called. "Listen to me! Answer this question: _how do you plan to stop me_?"

"LET ME GO!" Tails yelled.

"_TWO FEET!_" Robotnik roared. Metal Sonic took a further pace and now he was right in Tails' face.

This was too much. "LET ME GO!" Tails yelled.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"LET ME GO!"

"_ANSWER IT!_"

"_LET ME GO!_ LET ME GO, LET ME GO, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME AND LET ME GO!"

Robotnik stopped. This was no longer working. He needed to let the fox think and calm him down; at the moment he wasn't even capable of answering the questions. "_Twelve feet_," he called. He seemed almost sad.

But this was not how Metal Sonic saw it. The robot smashed a fist into Tails chest, before turning around and walking back to the twelve-foot mark. Tails, winded by the blow, groaned and dropped to the ground. The SWATbot forced him back up and very quickly he was back in the cell, where he collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

Robotnik dismissed Metal Sonic with a wave of his hand. He had not expected that kind of reaction from the robot, although looking back on it, it was not too surprising. He then called in a SWATbot which was hanging just outside Tails' line of sight, and took from it two large but thin boxes. Nintex stared at them, not sure he was seeing it correctly.

Robotnik turned them on their thin side and passed them through the bars, pushing them onto Tails' leg.

"Here," he said, smiling at them both. "Pizza time."

Tails stared at the pizza boxes, disbelieving, and was sure he would pass out. Unfortunately, he was wrong.


	7. Behind Schedule

Utter silence.

Sir Charles stared at the screen in front of him, disbelieving. It was unprecedented.

Utter silence. Not one news broadcast in the past five days.

"That's not possible," he muttered, scanning the list. "There's got to be a mistake."

"What is it?" Sonic asked, looking at the screen, although he recognised nothing on it.

"Robotnik's never this quiet," Sir Charles explained, keying in a command to make the system check again. "I've been in the power units for the past five days; it's been that long since I had access to the news system. And Robotnik's kept his mouth shut all that time. He hasn't even documented the launch."

The list blanked out, then refilled itself. There were still no new items. Sir Charles shook his head.

"He's gotta be planning something big," he said. "Maybe there's more to this satellite thing than we know." His eyes lit up, literally; the red glow briefly stained the room. "Oh, I forgot to say. It's about the satellite. Robotnik's following a predetermined signal."

Sally gasped. Sonic blinked, missing the point.

"Sonic," Sally explained. "Someone's sending a signal from _inside_ Knothole."

Sonic's mouth opened in an O as he realised what the consequence of that was.

"_Nintex_," they mouthed together.

* * *

Sir Charles plugged the tiny black box into a port on the side of his body. The tiny machine had been plugged into the mains all this time, and now it began to send its stored power directly into Sir Charles.

Sonic grimaced as he saw it. Sir Charles noticed.

"I know it's simplistic," he said apologetically, "but if things were nicer, I'dn't be a spy for the doctor. Without using the power units, this is the only way I can stay awake. I can't arouse suspicion, so this way it has to be."

Sonic never bothered to argue any longer about whether Sir Charles should return to Knothole. The conversation never got anywhere on those lines. His uncle was adamant, consistently replying that his best place was here.

Whether or not he actually believed what he was saying, Sonic didn't know. Robotic as he was, Sir Charles was talented at hiding his true feelings.

His roboticization had left his personality intact, to be reinstated after a short time. But so many things had ended for them. Sir Charles didn't eat, drink, or sleep. He worked twenty-two hours a day and spent the rest of the time recharging for his next shift. It was a monotonous, dreary existence.

But Sir Charles kept up at it.

And that, Sonic mused, was dedication – at its finest.

* * *

"Let's go," Sir Charles said, pulling the manhole cover open. He slid himself inside, landing on the wet metal below with a dull _clunk_. Sonic winced.

"Down you come, Sonny-boy, Princess," he called. The two of them crawled in after them. It was dark inside.

"Where are we?" Sonic asked. "Is this a sewer?"

"Actually," Sir Charles explained, "it's a very complex network grid. Now, there are only a few robots here, but it's not deserted either. Those that do come down here are given maps of the system and follow those directions without question. Which is perfect, because otherwise they'd crawl into the paths I made myself."

His eyes lit the cylindrically-shaped tunnel, walls covered in ash, grime, and oil. The air held an unpleasant taste of machinery, but Sonic and Sally gritted their teeth and followed him.

His path took them down a smaller tunnel. It was still pitch black, and they were forced to hold each others' shoulders so as not to lose themselves. Sir Charles whispered to them as they walked, his voice echoing deeply in the metallic catacombs.

"Robotnik originally built these tunnels to allow quick access throughout the city. The point was that the best way to get between two points is in a straight line without obstruction, so key nodes in the city were identified and a network of these tunnels built, connecting them. Then Robotnik went on a tangent, and suddenly realised that a skyway system made more sense. The whole idea was put on hold and never returned to."

"Wait a sec," Sally said. "If this place is abandoned, then why do robots still patrol it?"

"Basically because, in a few cases, an underground system _does_ make sense, when the nodes are quickly accessible. Remember, hovercraft can only carry a certain weight, and running objects over the ground can take up far less energy. Robotnik knows when to conserve."

"So you just started digging further into the tunnel system?" Sally asked.

"Well, not quite," he admitted. "My absence would have been clearly noted, and to be honest, I don't have the time or energy for this. But I am the one responsible."

He paused to scan the metal walls of the tunnel, tainted red by the colour of his eyes.

"Go on," Sally prompted.

"Well, let's see," Sir Charles said distractedly, not bothering to hide the fact that he was only half concentrating on his story. "I was working near the disassembly line when I noticed the condemned robots. Burrobots; six of them. One of Robotnik's earliest, and with a very simplistic operating system. I took them off Robotnik's hands, and with a lot of effort, got them to follow my orders."

"Wow," Sonic said. "I didn't think it could be done."

"It can't," Sir Charles replied. "Not any more. Even then it was difficult as heck. And it didn't really work properly; I had to give every order at least twice before they'd stop questioning it. It was immensely frustrating."

"But they dug the tunnel," Sally said, understanding.

"They did. When they were done, I, well, I returned them to the line. I watched them get pulled apart. It was quite satisfying after all the irritation they had caused me. Now these tunnels are the only thing that proves I didn't just make all that up."

"Heh, right," Sonic replied. "And Robotnik never found out?"

"Robotnik didn't even check the disassembly queue – he just calls the robots there and then assumes they get sorted out. And he never actually uses the tunnels. So far, I'm in the clear. Wait."

He paused, staring at some kind of marking on the wall, then started to wipe the grime off it. It was a long column of nine arrows, each one pointing either left or right down the tunnel. The seventh, which Sir Charles put his finger on, pointed right, but there was a small circle beside it.

"That means it's next up," he explained. "The ladder should be pretty near here. Can you see it?"

"I can't see anything," Sonic complained.

"Wait, here it is," Sir Charles replied, as it fell within the glow of his eyes. "Climb up with me, now." He lifted one foot and began to scale the ladder, rising into a vertical shaft, leaving Sonic and Sally in darkness.

"Right," Sonic said, slightly uneasy. "Here we come, then…"

The ladder itself was unpleasant, in that, apart from the darkness, the metal rungs were slippery from oil, and the three were forced to brace themselves on each step to avoid a fall. Sir Charles, without the organic dexterity of the other two, did misstep and come off, but quickly his fall was stopped by Sonic below him, who caught him and then executed an awkward ballet of shifting weight and keeping balance in order to return his uncle to the safety of the ladder.

The shaft continued upwards for some way, and the three of them grew quite tired of the continuous exercise. Finally Sir Charles stopped the climb, listening upwards at whatever was roofing him.

"What is it?" Sally whispered from below them. She could not tell a thing from the two above them.

"Shhh," Sir Charles whispered back. "I thought the building would be abandoned, but for a moment there, I thought I heard something."

They listened to the silence for a long moment. At first there was nothing; then all of a sudden there was a metallic _clank_ing of robot feet – right above Sir Charles' head. He winced, but didn't dare move for fear of making a sound.

The robot slowly clanked away. Sir Charles breathed a heavy sigh of relief, then tensed again. He was right above the exit they were due to use, and there might still be some robots above.

Once again they listened in silence. Now they could hear nothing. Nothing at all.

Sir Charles looked down at Sonic. "Should I go for it?" he asked warily.

"We'd better," Sonic whispered back. "It's not going to help Knothole being stuck in a shaft until we starve. If there're robots, there're robots. We'll survive."

"Yeah," Sir Charles replied, "but I don't want to be caught off-shift. Hey Sonic, will you go check above? Robotnik knows what side you're on."

"Sure," Sonic answered confidently, and Sir Charles leaned warily on one side of the ladder, as Sonic passed on the other, feeling the manhole cover above him. "I'm ready."

Very slowly, very carefully, he lifted the cover up from its grate. Its hinges protested loudly, painfully, the sound echoing through the air and making the three of them wince again. Sonic peered through the gap he had made.

Outside, in his limited vision, he saw a field of SWATbots! He flinched, pulling himself out of their line of sight, waiting for the inevitable cry of, "_Intruder! Apprehend!_"

It never came.

Slowly, uncertainly, he brought his eyes back to the gap. The robots weren't running towards the manhole, as he had expected. They hadn't even moved. He peered closer.

They were offline. He allowed himself a sigh of relief, and looked around for any sign of movement anywhere. Nothing.

"Phew," he said, lifting the manhole cover all the way up, and pulling himself up. "They're turned off. C'mon, guys, I'll help you out."

"What're turned off?" Sir Charles asked, lifting his head out. His mouth fell open.

"They're turned off," Sonic repeated, helping his uncle scale the edge of the shaft. The ladder ended too low for comfort.

"It's not that," Sir Charles replied. "Think about what's just happened. What are they doing here? I've never seen so many SWATs in one place before. There must be hundreds – thousands! – here. And besides; what're the chances that, of all the buildings Robotnik has, he packs his 'massive squadron' sect in this one? It's meant to be disused, for crying out loud!"

"You're saying he knew we'd be here?" Sally asked, climbing out and replacing the manhole cover quietly.

"No," Sir Charles replied grimly. "Worse. Robotnik doesn't know about the tunnels; I'm sure of it. What I'm saying is that his 'massive squadron' _overflows_ into this room."

Sonic stared at the huge amount of SWATbot around him. "But that means there must be _loads_ of these things."

"Hundreds of thousands," Sir Charles replied. "It's so impossible… it's so impossible that I think it must be true. I think Knothole will be in a _lot_ of trouble if we don't stop that satellite."

Sally looked around her, at the arrays of robots, covering her on all sides, then to the exit at the other side of the room. "Let's get out of here," she said, quite panicked.

The robots made no sign that they noticed them as they walked past them, standing up, packed tightly so as to force the three of them to hold their arms right in to avoid touching them. Sally was whispering to herself; Sonic couldn't tell what, but he could hear the fear in her voice.

They made it to the exit door. One SWATbot was awkwardly positioned right in front of it, but Sir Charles gritted his teeth and edgily pushed it aside. It didn't resist or acknowledge the motion, and soon it was far enough that he could pull the door open and step, blinking, into the sunlight.

"I thought it was raining?" asked Sonic. "Were we down there that long?"

"I don't know," Sir Charles replied, shaking his head anxiously. "Let's get moving."

"Wait," said Sally, also stepping out into the sunlight, and putting one foot on the still-wet dirt track. In front of her stood more of the wrecked hovercraft that Sir Charles had seen earlier.

And inside, more SWATbots. Melted SWATbots.

SWATbots with exposed internals.

It hit her instantly.

_It would be too deep in the machinery. We'd have to disassemble it completely, then weld it off._

"Um, Sir Charles," she asked slowly. "You think there'd be any welding tools in these ships?"

"There should be," he replied dubiously. "There normally is. Standard procedure. Why?"

Sally grinned.

It'd be hard work.

But this was personal.

This was how she would save Nicole.


	8. The Missile

"Pass me the blowtorch, Sonic."

"What's a blowtorch?"

Sally looked up at him, appalled, but Sonic was grinning. "I'm just kidding," he reassured her. "Here." He passed it across to her. Sally took it without looking at him, and stripped another metal plate off the SWATbot's hull, firing it quickly in case nearby robots heard. The forcefield helped muffle the sound quite well, but Sally didn't want to take any chances she didn't have to.

The time had passed slowly, especially for Sonic, and he had gone over the plan with his uncle a ludicrous amount of times. "M34 is our target. It's a rocket on the northern armoury platform. At 9:31, plus two seconds, you need to be at the console to fire it. Type M34, a space, fire, and press return. Did you get that, Sonic?"

"M34, space, fire, return, got it." This was familiar territory to Sonic, who had been seen a few times toying with Nicole when Sally had misplaced her.

There was little to do for Sonic except reiterate the plan and pass Sally her makeshift tools, and so he became lookout. The window of the hovercraft had been smashed inwards by an explosion in landing, but the forcefield protected them. Sonic leaned forward as far as he could without touching it, checking to make sure that no robots around them were moving.

At eight o'clock, Sir Charles receded, making for the power units that he should have been in for the past hour. He walked off south, leaving Sonic and Sally with the best plan he had.

At quarter-past-eight, the hovercraft speaker clicked on. "SWATbot army," addressed Robotnik. Sonic and Sally froze in position. "Receive the Pegasus-beta signal. You should be instructed north. Obey."

At first there was silence. Then a sudden wave thundered across the ground as every robot stepped forward in unison.

Sonic was watching when it happened: around him, the doors in the surrounding buildings all opened simultaneously - and robots _poured_ out of them, running as one along the track. Towards Knothole.

"How can we fight this!" Sally whispered, slightly hysterically. "We have something like two hundred people! And they don't even know what's coming!"

"Don't panic," Sonic muttered, even though the same things were going inside his mind as well.

They watched the robots, struck momentarily speechless. But Sally flew past that stage in seconds, military training forcing her to think. "Pegasus-beta," Sally muttered.

She stared ahead as the droves of robots moved on, their simultaneous footsteps shaking the ground... and then, just as Sonic slipped from his position and hit the floor, she knew what they had to do.

"I've got it," she said. "We do what we've planned - destroy the satellite."

"How will that help?" Sonic asked, picking himself up.

"I'm guessing," said Sally slowly, "that Pegasus is the name of the satellite. That means that Pegasus-beta is the autopilot system, right? The system that controls the robots. Chuck already disabled Pegasus-alpha for us... But if we get rid of Pegasus itself, then the autopilot signal stops..."

Sonic realised: "And then the bots go crazy, like the hovercraft did."

"Exactly," Sally said. "They try to follow the static. Wham. Instant victory. Now let's get this bot apart. The moment we've got the processor, we go after M34 - and Pegasus."

* * *

If the duo had known that Robotnik was listening in through the communication channel, they would have obviously kept quiet. He had signed onto it just five minutes ago, to see whether the craft and driver were operational, and heard Sonic and Sally! Although the radar was offline, and Robotnik couldn't actually determine where the craft was, he could hear the occupants speak. As they continued, oblivious, he pieced together their plan.

Nine o'clock came and went, and he left for Tails' interrogation, which went unnoticed by the fox's greatest friends. Robotnik returned, listening again.

He hadn't very much interest in Tails or Nintex - he just needed them to be out of the way. But he could see the potential in getting Sonic and Sally split up, and so he waited.

At nine-twenty, Sonic mentioned leaving. Robotnik grinned and flipped on the hovercraft's speaker remotely.

"Greetings, Sonic Hedgehog, Sally Acorn," he said.

* * *

At first, Sally thought she had misheard.

She looked to Sonic, but his face registered only shock. Then she realised, and, shaken, tried to compose herself. Thinking quickly, she said: "I'll sort this out, Sonic. Get moving, I'll pick you up when I can."

It was exactly what Robotnik had been hoping for - a split-up. Sonic grimaced, but sped out after the armoury building where M34 was waiting, and Sally was suddenly left cold and alone.

"What are you after?" she asked, searching for the microphone, so that she knew what to disable when the time came.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," said Robotnik conversationally. "Actually, I thought _you_ might benefit from this." Sally blinked, confused. "You see, you are labouring under the idea that you are the only ones in the city. You are mistaken." He laughed. "Say hello to the princess, foxes."

And Sally gasped, hand over mouth in shock, as Tails and Nintex's voices came over the speaker. Both of them said simply: "Sally!"

She faltered. Her words caught in her mouth for several seconds. _This wrecks everything!_ her mind screamed. Aloud, she stumbled over her words: "Nintex, are you there? Where are you?"

"In a cell block, Sally. You know the one - there are five robots here."

She gulped, understanding. "And Tails is with you?"

"Yes."

"Then…" _Oh my gosh - it's the wrong guy! Someone else is still at Knothole, sending the signal!_ "Who's the spy?" she asked.

But she had been cut off - she was talking to Robotnik again. He laughed, not bothering with words at first. "Things will go a lot smoother with you out of the way, princess. You know where they are being kept, and you have a hovercraft to rescue them with. So do it."

And a click informed her that he had signed off.

She had never _heard_ anything that sounded more like a trap. And the worst thing was that she had already been ensnared. She _couldn't_ leave the foxes there, under Robotnik's grasp. Her conscience wouldn't allow it. She would have to chance it, get them out as quickly as possible, and hope that nothing would go wrong.

She couldn't even feign helplessness - Robotnik knew she had a craft. Head in hands, she sat there, thinking, the now-detached processor lying on its side on the control board. Robotnik had cornered her completely.

Then she made her decision. She would go to the cell block and do the best she could. She owed Tails that - and Nintex, maybe, if he was truly innocent.

Powering up the craft, remembering an old reconnaissance mission where she had flown one through a security grid - she grabbed the flight yoke and watched the ground fall away behind her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tails and Nintex were having their own problems. Robotnik had made sure that he had left the pizza box open when he left them, and while Tails had had the sense to shut it, the delicious smell lingered in the air. Try as he might, Tails couldn't quite get it out of his mind. He kept drawing uncontrollably toward the box, then flinching when he realised how close he had got.

"I'm real hungry," he said, when Nintex had asked him what was the matter. "I didn't eat, remember? I was waiting for Sonic and Sally to leave before I ate."

"Tails," Nintex said sternly, forcefully, "you're not to touch the box. Not even to open it and look."

"You can't order me around," Tails said.

"Of course I can't," Nintex said, and for the first time Tails caught real danger in his voice. "But I am anyway. You take a mouthful and you could wake up dead, so no. It looked pretty disgusting anyway," he improvised, hoping, for once, that Tails' imagination would come to life. "Covered in little black bits, like metal. Kind of oily, too…"

"You're a good friend," Tails said, huddling down on the floor, "but lying won't help. It looked delicious - or Robotnik wouldn't have passed it in."

He looked up at Nintex, and to Nintex's irritation, he was crying again. When had that started? "I know, I mess up," Tails muttered quietly. "I'm fine most of the time, and then suddenly I go and make some stupid mistake. I don't deserve to be a Freedom Fighter."

Nintex turned away, slightly annoyed by the brooding. "You deserve to be whatever you want," he said, "and I know you don't want to be unhappy."

But Tails was too engrossed, and he seemed not to hear.

* * *

Sonic was pressed for time.

He had been caught off-guard, although he couldn't figure out why. When you thought about it, ten minutes seemed like a long time, but even at Sonic's speed, trekking along the dirt track, he had lost several to a detour. He had forgotten about the SWATbot army, and they had forced him around, between some of the buildings to the side. The buildings impeded his running, as he was forced to swerve around each one in turn.

Sir Charles had stressed to him the importance of not being seen, but now that Sonic had seen the army for himself, he didn't need the reminder. Knothole itself was at stake.

With eight minutes to spare he arrived at the armoury building with the army already in sight further down the track, coming towards him. He took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

He was in a long, metal corridor, a deep humming coming from somewhere inside the walls. He had not expected this - each of his own footsteps made him flinch. He was too loud. Annoyed, he pulled off his shoes and walked barefoot along the metal. It was actually hot.

Sonic took a right turn, following the corner of the building, and flinched. Bright sunlight streamed through the inner wall, which was actually a window, showing him how the whole building wrapped around the central launch area, where all the rockets were. Sonic couldn't tell which one M34 was, but he could be sure that it was among them.

There were no cavities - nothing to hide him, except the corner. This was designed to be tricky. Opposite the huge window were doors, made of glass but framed by metal. He needed to be in one of those rooms, any one. And quickly - Pegasus would be overhead in minutes.

Without warning one of the doors opened, and a SWATbot turned away and walked down the corridor. Sonic flinched, but to his amazement, it hadn't seen him. He seized his chance and ran, ran as he couldn't remember running. He was visible - the robots would see him - the door was closing - he was at the threshold - they would see him -

- and then he was inside. He ducked behind the computer screen, where he was hidden from the rest of the world, breathing hard. The door had slid shut with him inside. To his surprise, no alarm had been called.

How had he managed to not be seen?

He looked out again, peering around the computer screen, and realised. The sunlight was bright, and it was aimed towards him. Any robot looking in would just see the glare on the window. The weather was on his side.

He looked at the screen again. The time was shown at the top: nine twenty-eight. Three minutes to go, yet…

Then he noticed it. Motion from outside, and the roaring sound of a jet. Instinctively he looked to see what it was - and then he flinched back. A robot.

A blue robot.

A blue robot with silver claws.

* * *

Tails sat, cross-legged, thinking silently and watching the five figures around him. They were staring at him, all of them, unblinking. Tails frowned at them - how could they be free minded? They looked demented, looked bizarrely animal-like, not from the appearance of their metal bodies but from what they were doing with it, standing both rapt to attention and blank with ignorance at the same time.

Nintex opened his eyes, leaned against the back wall. "I know," he said. "Horrific, isn't it."

Tails assumed he was referring to roboticization. "It's awful. Are… I mean, were they nice people? Who were they, anyway?"

Nintex, for the first few seconds, merely closed his eyes again. But then, he said: "Three of them are friends. Phil is an artist, he likes drawing things. He remembers everything he sees. Cohae is just getting out of school. See his left eye? That's where another fox caught him by the claw. He can't use it, he's blind in that one. Nice, though, he comes around and helps with the work. That's Cyrus. He's…" - he laughed at the memory - "a troublemaker. A big one. Couple years back he was expelled from school for swapping the teacher's notes between all the departments. His dad teaches him at home."

But Nintex stopped there, with two names still unheard, teeth gritted slightly. "Nintex…?" Tails asked.

"Ryan and Anthony," he said, voice growing louder. "I never told you because nobody ever asked. Ryan _Hanyu_. Anthony _Hanyu_. They're twins; they're my brothers. Dad always used to joke that they were locked in a time-loop, the same ten-seconds of scuffling, over and over. They -"

And he grabbed his crutches and thrust himself to his feet, snarling. "They're mine!" he yelled. "Robotnik took them from me!" He thrust himself at the bars of the cell, but the crutches slipped and he fell, landing on the floor, eyes blazing.

"He changed them!" he roared. "He destroyed them!"

* * *

Sonic watched the timer carefully, keeping his head behind the screen and trying to calm himself. There were minutes left. Metal Sonic had thousands of windows to check, so with any luck, the robot's presence wouldn't matter to the mission.

_Wait a second_, Sonic thought, _how does he know I'm here?_

Sir Charles had been predictable, he realised. Robotnik knew the satellite would cross his city, and he had prepared for an attack.

The Freedom Fighters had underestimated their enemy, again. Sonic took his time about typing in the line as his uncle had told him, pressing each key carefully.

M34 FIRE.

His finger hovered over the return key, but if he pressed it now, the missile would miss by a mile. The clock had only ticked half-past; there was still a minute to go. A minute and two seconds. Sonic halted, waiting.

And then, slowly, he became aware of the silence.

Metal Sonic's jet had stopped. Sonic froze, listening, but there was no sign of it. He peered around the screen. No sign of his counterpart - Metal Sonic had vanished.

Vanished without a trace, with fifty seconds left on the clock.

* * *

Tails sat away from Nintex, afraid of him. He didn't want to admit it. Tails never wanted to admit his fear of a friend. But in this case, Nintex, while no longer storming, was certainly not cheery.

"I'm sorry," Tails had said, and that had gone unanswered. Tails, unnerved, couldn't force himself to try again, and merely sat, thinking. So that was why Nintex defended them so heartily, why he had come to Robotropolis just for them: two of them were family, the others as close as. It made sense. Nintex had seen his chance to return and seized it.

And Tails had wrecked it.

And now he felt sickened at himself. Sickened and despairing. When he couldn't stand it, he was crying for the third time in just a few hours, lying on his side with his back to Nintex, head in arms, hiding his tears.

Nintex watched him in disgust.

The poor fox had had a lifetime of problems, it seemed - but that was no excuse for this. Crying was fine, but this kid seemed to do nothing else! Somehow, Nintex had to break it. There had to be something he could do - something to drive the fear and the helplessness away. He needed to make the fox _act_, somehow.

And then, in a flash of inspiration, he noticed the pizzas again. Robotnik, without realising, had given him the perfect weapon. To break his depression, all Tails had to do was something active; forceful.

Like dragging Nintex _away_ from the pizzas, perhaps?

And the plan pulled itself together in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the better it became. The best blow to Tails would be to actually _eat_ some of the food - the perfect device to kick-start Tails' adrenaline. Tails could grab him, grab the pizza; even tear the food from Nintex's mouth, if the timing was right.

And the best part was, Nintex didn't even have to risk his life to do it.

It might even be fun.

One last look at the pizza box decided him. Whatever he chose to do was better than sitting here listening to Tails sob.

The call to attention that sparked it, snapping the fox out of his stupor, was the sharp yap:

"Tails!"

* * *

The glass erupted, showering across the floor of the launch area. Sonic landed with a thump on the metal, wincing and trying to move. He groaned, pulling himself to his feet, wondering what had happened.

He became aware that he had been thrown from the room and froze. He was meant to be in there! The missile needed to fire any moment now!

With a clang of metal, the blue and silver robot landed in front of him. Sonic yelped and flung himself away from him, back onto something that protruded out. He hit his hand painfully on it, and looked up.

Two SWATbots grabbed him before he knew it, clasping him around the arms. Sonic shook, but they merely lifted him off the floor, breaking off his escape route.

Metal Sonic laughed. Sonic spat at him, fuming in his helplessness.

"Robotnik did not foresee this," the robot said, stepping towards him. "M34 aimed for Pegasus. What a plan! You must have had someone to help you through here…"

Sonic grimaced without meaning to. Metal Sonic laughed.

"Well," he said, "if you really want M34 to be launched, then launched it will be. Robots, bind him."

Sonic was dragged backward through the armaments, towards something he couldn't see. He pulled as much as he could, but even hanging there his energy was draining rapidly. He couldn't break free.

Suddenly both hands were wrenched upward and he felt cold, sharp metal wrapped around them. He was suddenly braced, not by the grip of the SWATbots, but on the surface of something metal and curved. His eyes widened as he realised what he had been attached to.

"M34," Metal Sonic said. "Just for the irony factor," he added, almost conversationally, but then, much colder: "You have been the bane of my existence, and the cause." His insane laughter echoed off the metal walls. "But I will control you. I deny you to continue! Now watch your plan fail!"

Sonic screeched, panic escalating till he couldn't think. He was being crushed by Metal Sonic's laughter. Crushed by those terrible metal slices that held his hands to the missile.

"Fire," Metal Sonic said, and suddenly the world went haywire. The engine was roaring below him…

But quite suddenly, Sonic found his mind gloriously free.

He was surrounded by blue-grey sky, wind flapping past him at a tremendous rate. The robots were gone, lost below him, and the world could wait. It was enough to be free.

With a jolt, his left arm was wrenched free of the metal by the wind. The panic returned - suddenly his position didn't seem safe at all. He swung around, landing with his chest on the missile plating, which was starting to curve strangely. That was gravity - his weight was driving the missile sideways, putting him underneath, dangling from it with one hand stuck under a single slice of metal. He swung with all his might, and grabbed this metal with his other hand. Instead of giving him a better grip, the metal came free of its frame, and suddenly there was no missile at all.


	9. A Spy's Second Target

_The six foxes looked out to where the Forest ended, staring at the city of Robotropolis with horrified eyes. It was impossibly large and threatening and seeing it in the distance from the borders of trees turned it into a distant overseer, a big brother observing from above._

"Nintex!" Cohae yelled. "You did that on purpose!"

Nintex frantically looked at his hand-drawn map on the scrap of paper that was now starting to fall apart from overuse. "No!" he yelled, shocked and annoyed. "Can't! East! Impossible!"

"Small," Ryan said warningly.

"Can't!" Nintex yelled, tearing the little scrap of paper apart in his franticness. He swore. "Help!"

"Shh!" Anthony hissed.

"Why?" Cohae asked.

"'Cause this isn't our territory," Anthony whispered. "I know you guys are comforted by metalcity out there, but Robotnik's power extends well beyond the borders. If he owns this area, and he might well do, we mustn't attract the bots."

"I didn't see any bots," Cohae challenged, narrowing his one good eye.

"Neither did I," Anthony said. "Which is exactly what that madman'd want if he were here. So for heck's sake shut up."

"You don't know anything about Robotnik's powers," Ryan said.

"We all don't," Nintex said.

"Quiet," Cohae hissed, and Nintex glowered but silenced himself. "Cyrus, what's wrong?"

Cyrus blinked his tears away. "Uh, sorry guys. I know this is uncharacteristic of me n' all; you might think so but I actually really don't want to die. I'm so scared I really would rather be in Elsu's domain right now. Get a load of this; I'm so scared I'm crying."

He dabbed his eyes and then poked Nintex's forehead with the same finger.

"This way is south, right?" Phil said. "Metalcity is south of the forest. Kyu Shena is east, so let's go along the border, right? Stick to the trees and travel that way and at least we'll be going in the right direction."

"Inside," Nintex said.

"Well, inside or outside," Cohae said. "But sticking on the border just exposes us to both threats. Inside or outside?"

They turned in unison to the Forest, staring into the depths and gauging their own fear. Then, still as one, they turned to look at Robotropolis.

"Inside," Nintex said.

"Inside," Cohae agreed. "Robotnik can't see us inside."

"I heard his real name was Eggman," Phil said.

"Whatever," Cohae said. "Right now, whatever his real name is, he can see us. We really do not want to know if he cares about us or not. Come on, people. Let's follow the border from inside it."

"Let's go," Nintex said. Cohae elbowed him quiet.

* * *

Sonic fell through the air uncontrollably, throwing his arms around and trying to grab for nonexistent hand-holds. He was twisting wildly, trying not to feel too sick at the sight of the rapidly revolving horizon. He could see the missile, too: it was falling faster than him, and he tried to focus on its descent. It hit a building below him and halted. There was no explosion.

It wouldn't have taken Pegasus out anyway, Sonic realised. Somehow the thought did not surprise him. Someone had known he was coming.

The freefall was impossible to stop, but Sonic still retained a certain amount of control, and he managed to pull himself into a skydiving position. He laughed despite himself. The dull metal was almost entirely below him, except for the tall, round central control tower, which ended in a point-tip just below. Maybe he could land on that.

But it felt like it was getting further away. He was falling very rapidly, and at this rate he wouldn't be able to reach the tower until he was half-way down. And by then he wouldn't want to touch anything solid.

Then he noticed the hovercraft. They had returned to their orderly rows, and were speeding in a line underneath him. They were on level with the top of the tower. If he could manoeuvre himself underneath them, then maybe someone would catch him by accident.

Sonic swum through the air, trying to keep himself on top of the line. "Oh man," he muttered, "this had really better work-!"

And then he hit. It wasn't painful as such, but a forcefield caught him from below and yanked him to the side. For the second time in just a few minutes he was crashing through glass. Unable to think he merely rolled over, gasping for air.

He was inside the tower. He had fallen in from outside, and he could see the hovercraft queue speeding along, through a smashed window. He was bleeding from the wrists, but he didn't know if this was from the crash or from the flimsy sheets of metal that had tied his hands to the missile.

A robot grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him across the room, and he hit the far metal wall with an echoing thud. He could see his aggressor, but the robot had pinned his arms to the wall before Sonic managed to recognise the face.

"Uncle Chuck?"

"Six months!" Sir Charles hissed. "Six months to survive and he lost it in _days!_"

"Uncle Chuck!"

Sir Charles blinked, shook his head and realised what he was doing. His grip relaxed, letting Sonic slide to the floor. "Oh man," Sonic said with his eyes closed. "Unc', what's wrong?"

"I'm homeless, Sonic," Sir Charles said, and clattered to the floor with his back to the adjacent wall. "They've found me."

Sonic could think of nothing to say to that, because in truth he was quite glad if Robotnik had figured his uncle's role out.

"I've got no idea what to do, Sonny-boy," Sir Charles continued. "I can't stay here in Robotropolis. I can't live in any of the Freedom Fighter cities either; nobody accepts robots which are entirely roboticized. I don't know what to do."

"Live with us," Sonic said, which seemed the most obvious thing to say.

"Sonic. How much electricity does Knothole get? A generator can power Rotor and Tails' tools maybe, but it's nowhere near enough for me. I hear they ration it out?"

Sonic looked around him. "I don't understand," he said. "How can Robotnik know about you? You're always super-careful about what you do here."

"I am, Sonic," Sir Charles replied, with a slight edge to his voice. "But you aren't."

"I…" Sonic had no idea what to say to that.

Sir Charles looked up to the panel on the wall above his head. He reached out as far as he could be bothered to, tapping a command in. A digital voice sounded throughout the chamber.

"Accessing…" said the voice. "Priority one file access, permission granted, by authorization of Doctor Robotnik."

"He has a sense of humour," Sir Charles said. "He doesn't mind me knowing that he's going to kill me."

"Audio," said the voice. And then there was the slight hiss of a microphone recording, and Sonic's own voice came through the speaker.

_"Sal! What's up?"_

"You are, and so am I," said the voice of Sally through the microphone. Sonic's eyes were wide. _"We're going out to Robotropolis, Sonic Hedgehog."_

A clatter, followed by Sonic's voice again: _"Really? We're after that satellite, right?"_

"Yeah. We need to destroy it ASAP. Fancy a visit to Sir Charles?"

"Uncle Chuck? Why?"

"I'm mentioned throughout," Sir Charles said, pausing the recording. "Robotnik has all sorts of links to me through this, but he caught other stuff. Listen, Sonic." He tapped a button and a different voice sounded.

_"Yeah, that's why all the food is gone from the community hut, isn't it?"_ said the recorded Tails. _"I don't know what happened. First we overslept - because story time didn't really work - then we started talking, and we sort of forgot to eat."_

"C'mon, Tails -"

Sir Charles paused the recording again. "See?" he said. "He has all kinds of stuff. Stuff that doesn't have any relevance. It's all still there, archived. It's not often that Robotnik gets recordings from inside Knothole. He's kept these under lock and key."

Sonic was staring into space. "It was Nintex," he groaned. "He must have listened in. Do you have _him_ anywhere in there?"

"Hold on," said Sir Charles, trying to find the right place.

_"What's the matter, Sal?"_

"Nicole. She keeps telling me there's a fault in operations. I think she needs a new processor unit."

"No, this isn't right. Wait, go forward." Sir Charles was talking to himself.

_"Once upon a time, the end."_

"Not that short, but still short. And it isn't obvious, either."

"Is this him?" Sir Charles asked.

Sonic nodded. "That stupid twit; I'll get him for this."

_"I slowly came across the bridge with my love,"_ the recording continued. _"She smiled sweetly -"_

"Locked Together," Sonic said. "Stop it."

"Wait," Sir Charles said. "This is odd, this thing."

"His story?" Sonic asked. "Yeah, but that - wait, you think it might be a message?"

"I don't know what it is, but it's in a separate file. Robotnik sure noticed it."

There was a long silence. "What are you going to do?" Sonic asked.

Sir Charles was deep in thought, and Sonic suddenly realized that something had occurred to him. "Yes," he said. His mouth was breaking open into a grin. "Yes, I know what to do."

"Well, what?"

"I'm going to go with Nintex."

_"What?"_

"Think about it," Sir Charles said, and he was standing up. Sonic lifted himself to his feet, in time to see Sir Charles put onto one of the many screens an image of Nintex. He was standing inside the room with his five roboticized companions, and shaking the bars outside one of them. It was staring at him without moving. Nintex was frozen in an expression of horror and disbelief.

"This photograph was taken moments after he entered the room." Sir Charles said. "He had come into Robotropolis after these five, and arrived too late. This fox identified itself as Cohae before the roboticization was complete."

"Okay," said Sonic. "But what does this have to do with you?"

"Well," Sir Charles replied. "This is another photograph taken sixty seconds later." And he put it on the screen.

Cohae had not moved at all, except perhaps a slight tilt of the head. But Nintex had changed completely. His agonized expression had been replaced by one of realization, and surprise, and happiness.

"Look at the robot," Sir Charles said. "Between the two photos it doesn't move at all. Believe it or not, that's not standard protocol when an intruder is standing a few feet away from you."

"I'll bet," Sonic said, all too aware of the robots' reactions to him.

"My guess is that he knew this fox beforehand, and recognized that the personality that he had known was still there. If he's right, and I don't know if he is, but if he is right, then he'll be desperate to release his foxes and cure them somehow."

"What are you getting at?" Sonic asked.

"Think about it, Sonic. If he wants his friends' personalities back, then I'm exactly what he's looking for! A robot that's been rescued by his friend - nephew - and restored to the original personality set. That's what he wants to do for them! So if I can manage to convince him that I'm here to do the same for his friends -"

"Wait," Sonic said, suddenly realising. "So you're saying that instead of spying for Robotnik, you're going to spy for _Nintex?_"

"Exactly!" Sir Charles said. "If he's still transmitting to Robotnik, then I'm sure to catch it. I don't expect it to take more than a couple of days, and in the meantime all I do is tell him the truth. Bring the guys home and try to talk them out of it. That's what you did for me."

"Well, that's all great and all and I'm sure you'll catch him at it, but what do we do? Robotnik knows where Knothole is, doesn't he?"

"Yes," Sir Charles said. "I don't even know if he needs the tracking signal anymore. If I were you, I'd forget about Pegasus and everything. Move Knothole."

"_Move_ Knothole?"

"Save the people first," Sir Charles said. "If you have time to come back for stuff, then do so. But be careful - if Nintex has planted a tracking signal somewhere, you might take it with you by accident."

"Right," Sonic said. "Now let's go."

"What?"

"You think I'm letting Robotnik catch you?" Sonic said. "If the spying on him is over, it's over. We'll go to your hideout and pick up your stuff if we can, and then we'll go!"

Sir Charles laughed. "I don't have anything there I'd want to take," he said.

"Then it's settled," Sonic finished. "C'mon."


	10. Nintex's Ability

Sally sat in the hovercraft, floating beside the cell block and swaying slightly with the toxic wind. She counted six floors, opened the hatch door all the way up, and leaned out, laser gun in one hand, hanging over thin air. She aimed.

The shot burned slowly through the metal, melting it in a straight line. Adjusting her grip, she paused in time to notice the shriek from inside.

She braced herself and continued, ripping a square hole out of the metal wall. It was very thick.

"You're through!" Tails yelled, and she broke off immediately. The block of metal grated and shuddered from an inside hit – once, twice, thrice, and then it slid right out, falling the rest of the way and hitting the distant floor with a thud.

Tails' head appeared through the hole. "I can't crawl through that," he said. "It's smouldering hot!"

Sally carefully drew the craft closer, manipulating the controls awkwardly with her inside hand. "I know," she said. "Here, catch!" And she tossed her laser gun through the gap. Tails picked it up.

"Sally," he said. "Don't go! I can't get Nintex to move!"

That caught her off-guard. "What's wrong with him?"

And without warning, Tails was thrown to the side, disappearing from view. Nintex looked in, cross-eyed, mouth in a manic grin. "Hi, Sally!" he called. "Look at me, I've been poisoned!"

Tails shoved him back and reappeared. "He ate some food of Robotnik's," he called desperately. "Now he's… well, he's gone crazy. He keeps laughing and talking about dying and other stuff, and he can't stand up properly."

Sally began, "Get –", but she had no sooner said that than Nintex had shoved his way back into her view. Tails caught the floor with an "oof!"

"Hi!" Nintex called again. "Tails was brooding, and I got bored and joined in! Look!" He posed dramatically, took a deep breath, and said: "Woe –"

And Tails shoved him down again.

"Stay there!" he yelled with startling force. "Don't you _dare_ move!" He turned to Sally, floating outside. When nothing happened, he offered a prompt: "Sally?"

"Um, get him out if you can," Sally said distractedly – the experience had thrown her completely off-guard. "Try getting his mind to work properly."

Nintex appeared alongside Tails, fighting for view of Sally, and Tails couldn't help an incensed cry of "_Nintex!_"

Nintex froze and cocked his ears, listening. After a long pause, he turned to Tails, looking confused. "Someone said my name," he said. "Did you hear it?"

"You know what, Tails?" Sally yelled, irritated – Tails looked back at her. "If you have to, hit him with his crutches. No, I'm serious," she added, for even now, Tails was looking horrified at the suggestion. "Just mind his leg. Really, we haven't got time for this. Robotnik knows I'm here."

"Right," Tails said, suddenly realising the danger. "Which way is out?"

By now, Sally was now drifting so close to the building wall that she could brace her free arm on its surface. She could feel the heat of the melted metal, too, and she tried not to wince. "There's a landing on the roof," she said. "Shoot your way out of the cell, then take the ramp as high as it goes, and I'll meet you there."

Tails nodded and withdrew from the gap. Sally could hear him struggling with Nintex, but she pulled herself back into her craft and – hatch door still wide open – rose the craft up to the roof level.

For a long time there was nothing. The craft touched home and its engine ground to a halt. And then there was silence.

Minutes passed, Sally's pulse racing… waiting for Tails…

"Come on!" came his voice, some distance inside, below her. "No – _no_ – come on, this way!"

"Tails, hurry!" Sally yelled. She had spotted, in the sky, a bright yellow light: Metal Sonic's jet, partially obscured by his body. He was aimed right for them.

Tails didn't acknowledge her, but she heard him yell, "_MOVE!_" He was having difficulties. Sally looked up at the dot and found that it was a lot brighter – Metal Sonic was moving alarmingly fast. "Tails! Metal Sonic is coming!"

Tails froze, the noises he made ceasing immediately. "What do we do?" he asked.

He had not expected a sensible reply, but all of a sudden Nintex seemed stronger, different somehow. "Listen," he said.

But Tails' eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. That was far too quick a recovery.

"Hurry," Nintex said. "Take the gun…"

* * *

Metal Sonic landed like a raptor on the metal rooftop, head lowered, arms withdrawing, ready to attack. Sally kneeled at the landing, between him and the craft, and Tails somewhere underneath. But she had forgotten him – she was staring at the robot.

"Princess," Metal Sonic said.

"Mecha," she replied. "What do you want?"

"The hedgehog failed," he said. "M34 missed by many seconds, and the hedgehog was strapped to it at the time. He will not be posing a threat right now."

Sally merely gaped stupidly. Then, almost accidentally, she glanced to her other side and received a second shock.

Tails was striding right past her, face drawn together in absolute anger. He held the gun in both hands, lowered, but as she watched, Tails found a spot where he made a triangle with Sally and Metal Sonic. That expression of fury looked horrific coming from him, but that was nothing compared to what he did next. Tails raised the gun.

At her.

"What –?" she asked. But Tails' eyes flashed a brief smile, and Sally suddenly understood, holding her face on its former expression of shock. Tails was bluffing. And it had worked – Metal Sonic had frozen in confusion.

"What were you thinking?" Tails asked scornfully – his acting was wonderful. "You know you can't get this right. I'm taking over the mission."

Nintex stepped to his side, and Sally, too, noticed his bizarre return to reality. He was not looking particularly angry or scornful – merely serious. "_We're_ taking over the mission," he corrected. "Get in the hovercraft, Tails, and raise the forcefield."

Tails glanced back once and then slowly, without wavering his aim at Sally, stepped back, across the metal roof and into the craft, whose door slid shut. Through the window, Sally saw him glance down at the control panel and tap one of the buttons.

It was a slow realization, but Sally finally spotted the incongruity: Tails might have the gun, but his threat was useless from inside the craft. Nintex had basically disarmed himself. What in the world did he plan to do?

"Metal Sonic," he said. "Such a marvel of engineering…"

Sally's jaw dropped. He was trying to _flatter_ a _robot_?

"A very strange robot, to be sure." His voice was calm, almost conversational. "Not a robot driven by simple instructions, but one that works by principles of a single emotion – actual emotion, the ability to hate, the ability to want to destroy, and the ability to understand what actions lead, by consequence, to that destruction…"

But, just as Sally had known, Metal Sonic did not appear to take any praise from these words. Praise was not an emotion he recognized – his fists were clenching and unclenching in almost musical timing with Nintex's words. Sally's mouth quivered. Any Freedom Fighter would have known better…

And she found she was fearing for Nintex's life…

"What I love about the design is the humanity," Nintex continued flippantly, apparently ignorant to his own danger. "The hatred comes through in ways _we_ recognize. You can see it. He is _filled_ with the hatred, the livid desire to kill and destroy… You can _see_ it, inside him; what he wants. What he would love to try…

"To take his claws and rip us all apart… To tear the flesh and spill the –"

And the most unusual scene met Sally's eyes.

Metal Sonic – who must have saw Nintex's words as nothing less than provocation – roared and leapt forward, claws aimed for Nintex's throat. Sally screamed. But Nintex raised one of his metal crutches at lightning-fast speed, and with impossible power, simply swiped the robot's claws right out of the way. Metal Sonic, undeterred, slashed again, this time at the chest – but Nintex dodged and the crutch gave a _clang_ as the claws were thrown back.

Sally watched, mesmerized, as Nintex threw back attack after attack, with power that he simply shouldn't have had, and Metal Sonic grew more and more furious, and Nintex seemed to grow more and more at ease at his control. He was almost waiting for something to happen.

And happen it did. Metal Sonic knew it shouldn't have – couldn't have. But in one moment the hovercraft was listed as inactive, sitting there to one side. In the next: he was looking right at it from very close range.

His memory banks would remember nothing more for several hours.

…and Sally groaned, coughing from the dust and horribly dizzy, trying to pick herself up. What in the world had that been? She raised her head.

The hovercraft came down jerkily – Tails, flying it, had no instinct for the controls, he only knew them for what they technically did, from seeing Robotnik pilot them. With difficulty he landed it and clambered out. Sally and Nintex were getting to their feet, both looking hard-worn. Metal Sonic was sparking and motionless, and no wonder – Tails had flown the hovercraft right into him.

The fox's first question was for Nintex: "What did you _do?_"

"I'd like to know that, too," Sally added. Nintex merely laughed at that.

"What?" she asked, indignantly. "Listen, you can't do something like that without explaining it to us."

"I'm _not_ going to explain," Nintex said. He was finding something very funny.

"But you were completely in control," Tails complained. "How did you do it? Maybe you can –"

"I'm not going to explain," Nintex repeated firmly. "Someone told me not to, and I'm doing what he said."

"Who?" Sally asked.

"Doctor Shepherd," was the reply. "Listen, my friends are down there. I got them out of the cell but we left them in the corridor when you said Metal Sonic was about." And his voice was suddenly desperate again. "I _need_ to get them out. It's the reason I'm here." He stared at Sally, switching weight on his crutches. "Are you going to help me?"

For a long moment, Sally considered refusing to help at all without an explanation. But he was drilling into her eyes, and that expression spoke volumes.

Without any words, she suddenly understood what Tails had needed to be told – that these were his closest souls, and robots or not, losing them again would destroy him.

"Tails," she said. "Get the hovercraft going and see if you can figure out where Sonic is. All right, Nintex, I'll help you."

* * *

When they were out of Tails' earshot, Nintex spoke up. "I've just had an idea," he said. "Does Robotnik know about the three-years-old thing?"

Sally looked at him in surprise, and then groaned in embarrassment. "Oh, for heaven's sake, he hasn't gone and vented that on you?"

Nintex nodded, and Sally sighed, looking rather disappointed.

"I thought he might have got past that, at least. Yikes, how do I say this?" She looked irritated, but Nintex had successfully distracted her. "Well, Tails… Let me clear something first. Tails is fourteen. Tails is absolutely dead-clear fourteen. It was a joke. An insult."

"What?"

"Robotnik," she said. "For the most part, we go by the laws of Mobitropolis, which is what this city was before Robotnik overthrew it. In those days my father was in command, but even then, Robotnik was in control of the war ministry, as well as parts of the rest of the monarchy. We didn't even think about it. We didn't know…

"Anyway, a little before he took over, he started making these awful threats to do loads of damage. Subtle at first, but he came into the open fairly quickly, because all the major families were coming out, trying to scare him into shutting down. The Prowers were in there. Tails' parents.

"Robotnik saw that they had had a son that was on the twenty-ninth of February, and so what he did – it was one of his last commands under the old monarchy – was pass an Act that redefined 'age'. It became the number of birthdays, instead of the number of years, which left everyone else alone but messed Tails' numbering up completely. That was his last insult to them, before he killed them. Oh yes, he killed them," she added. "Or maybe one of his robots did it, I can't say that for sure. But he deliberately left Tails alive with that insult still hanging."

"So…" Nintex said slowly, "_technically_, Tails _is_ three."

"The Freedom Fighters are rebels," Sally countered. "To the current legal system. I don't deny it. We make our own laws. Everyone in Knothole accepts that Tails should be considered fourteen, so everyone goes with that. Except him," she finished. "He wasn't even _at_ the last party."

"He said it was a flop," Nintex said, then checked himself: Sally had been the one to put it together. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to say. He was upset, I'm sure it wasn't…"

He trailed off.

"The Prowers had a great humour," Sally continued abruptly. "That was who they were. That's why they felt free to resist; simply, because everyone enjoyed what they did, they got loads of support. It's a real shame that Tails didn't inherit that."

"Yeah," Nintex agreed rather distantly, eyes suddenly watering, because they had got to the place where his friends had been deposited. They were still standing there, blankly. They hadn't moved an inch since they had been left there. Cohae was looking at him vacantly, but the others were staring straight ahead at nothing.

Nintex gritted his teeth, stepping forward and putting a hand on the metal plate that was Cohae's shoulder.

"Help me move them."


End file.
